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Lenvik 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 ...
in
Senja Municipality Senja is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020 when the municipalities of Berg, Lenvik, Torsken, and Tranøy were merged into one municipality. It is located in the traditional district of Hålogaland. ...
in
Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...
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 Bjorelvnes, along the
Gisundet Gisundet is a strait in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The long strait separates the island of Senja from the mainland. The strait flows into the Malangen fjord in the north and into the Finnfjorden (and later the Solbergfjorden) ...
strait. It is one of the churches in the Lenvik
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 Senja 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 Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms and Finnmark counties as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø at the Tromsø Cathedral, t ...
. The white, wooden church was built in a
cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...
style in 1879 using plans drawn up by the
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 ...
Anker and has a seating capacity of about 250 people.


History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the 1100s, where it is written about in the Icelandic Rimbegla which states that "Lenvik Church, just south of the Malangen, is the northernmost church in the world" (). The old church site was located near the confluence of the Malangen Fjord and the
Gisundet Gisundet is a strait in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The long strait separates the island of Senja from the mainland. The strait flows into the Malangen fjord in the north and into the Finnfjorden (and later the Solbergfjorden) ...
strait, about north of the present church site. During an attack by the
Karelians Karelians (; ; ; ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russia. Karelians living in Russian Karelia are considered a distinct ethnic group closely ...
in 1386, the
rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...
by the church was said to have been burned, but there is no record that the church was also burned. In the year 1700, an old church was torn down on the site and a new church was built on the same site to replace it. It was a
timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...
cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...
building with a low roof line. Around 1776, the church was renovated and a
sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...
was built on the east end of the building. In 1814, this church served as an
election church An election church () is a term used for approximately 300 churches in Norway that were used as polling stations during the elections to the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. This was Norway's first national elections and this ass ...
(). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814
Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly ( or ) is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised the dissolution of the union with Denmark. The meetings took place at the Eidsvoll Manor in th ...
which wrote the
Constitution of Norway The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish language, Danish: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian Bokmål: ; Nynorsk, Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the N ...
. This was Norway's first national elections. Each
church parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet at
Eidsvoll Manor Eidsvollsbygningen (Literally: ''The Eidsvoll building'') is a historic manor house located at Eidsvoll in Akershus county, Norway. The building is where the Constitution of Norway was signed on 17 May 1814. The estate is now owned by The State o ...
later that year. In 1820, the church was demolished and a new one erected on the same site. This new church was a timber-framed building with an octagonal floor plan and by 1822, the church was already in need of repairs. The second floor seating balcony had structural deficiencies and needed repair. The local climate also affected the church and due to tight finances, the church often postponed regular maintenance on the building, which led to a deterioration of the building. In a January 1874 meeting of the municipal council, the question came up about the location of the church. The parish boundaries had recently changed and the church was no longer central to the municipality. The council decided to move the church to Bjorelvnes, about further south along the Gisundet strait. In September 1874, the council decided to dismantle the old church and reuse the same materials to build the new church. Over the winter, the Diocese told the council that the new church must have seating for at least 700 people, so the new church had to be larger and the old materials would not be enough. After some negotiation with the diocese, in May 1875, the council approved building a brand new Lenvik Church at Bjorelvnes and the materials from the old church would be moved to
Rossfjordstraumen or is a village in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. It serves as a community center for the areas around the Rossfjorden and the lake Rossfjordvatnet. It is located about northeast of the town of Finnsnes, and about northeast of th ...
where they were used to build the new
Rossfjord Church Rossfjord Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. It is located just northeast of the village of Rossfjordstraumen, along the coast of the Malangen fjord. It is one of the churches in th ...
. In 1879, the new Lenvik Church was built at Bjorelvnes as the old church was taken down in 1885 and its materials were used to build the new Rossfjord Church.


See also

*
List of churches in Nord-Hålogaland This list of churches in Nord-Hålogaland is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Finnmark and Troms counties. The diocese is based at the Tromsø Cathedral in the ...


References

{{use dmy dates, date=February 2021 Senja Churches in Troms Wooden churches in Norway Cruciform churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1879 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches