Moe 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 ...

Orkland Municipality Orkland is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Orkdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Orkang ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

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

Vormstad Vormstad is a village in Orkland Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located along the Orkla River between the villages of Svorkmo and Fannrem. The village of Hoston, Trøndelag, Hoston lies about west of Vormstad. The vi ...

, about south of the town of

Orkanger Orkanger is a town and the administrative centre of Orkland Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The town sits at the end of the Orkdal Fjord, an arm of the Trondheimsfjord. Orkanger is the commercial centre of Orkland Municipality and it ...

. It is the church for the Orkland

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

Orkdal prosti This list of churches in Nidaros is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Nidaros in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Trøndelag county. The diocese is based at the Nidaros Cathedral in the city of Trondheim (city), T ...

(

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 Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

. 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 1867 by the builder Ole Fredriksen Rømmesmo. The church seats about 310 people.

History

The original chapel in Orkland was built in 1675 in the nearby village of

Svorkmo Svorkmo is a village in Orkland Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is situated in the Orkdalen valley along the river Orkla about west-southwest of the city of Trondheim. Svorkmo is located about south of the village of Vormstad a ...

where many people worked at a smelting factory. It was a

building with tower on the roof with a

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 ...

on the west end. On 3 June 1816, there was a river flood which swept through the area along the river where the cemetery and church were located. The church was heavily damaged and not much of the interior furniture was able to be saved. The church was torn down and its materials were used for flood protection in Svorkmo. A new church was constructed on the nearby Smedshaugen farm about northeast of the old church site (on higher ground, further away from the river). The new church was a small,

octagonal In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a hex ...

church. Eventually, the smelter in Svorkmo was closed down and the church was too small for the parish, so despite its young age, the church was closed and torn down in 1866. Soon after, a new church was constructed at Moe on the south side of

, about north of Smedshaugen. The new site was more easily accessible for the people of the parish. After some delays, the construction began in 1866 and the church was

consecrate 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 ( ...

d on 28 December 1867 by bishop Andreas Grimelund. The church was extensively repaired under the leadership of John Tverdahl in 1958–1959.

Media gallery

Moe kirke 2012.jpg, Moe kirke.jpg, Moe Kirke Orkedalen.jpg, postcard c1910

References

{{use dmy dates, date=June 2021 Orkland Churches in Trøndelag Cruciform churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1867 1675 establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References