Leikanger Church () is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

Stad Municipality Stad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The municipality includes much of the northern shore of the Nordfjorden as well as the Stad peninsula. The administrative centre of the ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located in the village of

Leikanger Leikanger () is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center was the village of Hermansverk, which also was th ...

on the shore of the

Vanylvsfjorden Vanylvsfjorden is a fjord in western Norway, on the border of Vestland and Møre og Romsdal counties. The long fjord runs between the mainland of Vanylven Municipality and the Stad peninsula of Stad Municipality, with the islands of Sande Muni ...

. It is the church for the Leikanger

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

which is part of the Nordfjord prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin () is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway, and those outside of Norway in the Seamen's Church. The cathedral cit ...

. The white, wooden church was built in a

long church Church building in Norway began when Christianity in Norway, Christianity was established there around the year 1000. The first buildings may have been post churches erected in the 10th or 11th century, but the evidence is inconclusive. For inst ...

design in 1866 using plans drawn up by an unknown

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. The church seats about 370 people.

History

In 1866, plans were made for building a new Selje Church in the village of Selje. To make room for the new, larger church building, the old church was torn down. The materials for the old church were saved and moved to the nearby village of

on the shore of the

, about north of the village of Selje. The parish used those materials to build a church at Leikanger to serve the people of the northern part of Selje. The church was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

on 28 October 1866 as Leikanger Chapel and at that time, it had a couple of hundred seats. This church was quickly found to be too small for the congregation. In 1895, the building was expanded under the leadership of Lars Sølvberg. The west wall of the nave was moved further to the west. A new roof was built after the nave was enlarged. A lot of the old materials were replaced, so the resulting building was almos like new construction, although remnants of old materials in the walls can still be found here and there. The church also got a new

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

and tower. After this significant renovation, the church was unrecognizable compared to before. It was twice as large as before, with around 400 seats. In 1966, the church was renovated as well. In 1997, the chapel was upgraded to the status of

and at that time, it was renamed Leikanger Church.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=August 2021 Stad, Norway Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1866 1866 establishments in Norway

History

See also

References