Os 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 ...

Bjørnafjorden Municipality Bjørnafjorden is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. It runs through the municipalities of Austevoll, Bjørnafjorden, and Tysnes. The large island of Tysnesøya (and many small, surrounding islands such as Reksteren) lie along the south side ...

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

Osøyro Osøyro (or Osøyri) is the administrative centre of Bjørnafjorden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies on the southwestern part of the Bergen Peninsula, along the western shore of the Fusafjorden, about south of the cit ...

. It is one of the two churches for the Os

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

Fana prosti Fana or fanaa most commonly refers to: * Fana, Bergen, a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway * Fana (Sufism), the Sufi term for "annihilation of the self" People * Fanã (born 1960), Portuguese football manager * Saint Fana (c. 354–395), Eg ...

(

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 1870 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 ...

Ole Vangberg. The church seats about 600 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1306, but the church was already built in that year. The first church on this site was a wooden

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ...

that was likely built during the 13th century. In 1624, the old church was torn down and replaced with 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 ...

. 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 in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...

later that year. During the 1860s, planning for a new church began.

Christian Christie Eilert Christian Brodtkorb Christie (24 December 1832 – 13 September 1906) was a Norway, Norwegian architect. Personal life He was born in Bergen as a son of customs officer Werner Hosewinckel Christie (1785–1872) and Hansine Langsted (1802 ...

was hired to design the new church in 1866, but the building committee demanded changes that Christie would not accept, so he resigned. The assignment then went to Ole Vangberg, but his drawings were also heavily criticized by

Jacob Wilhelm Nordan Jacob Wilhelm Nordan (23 February 1824 – 11 April 1892) was a Danish-born, Norwegian architect. During his career, he was one of the most prolific church architects in Norway. Biography Nordan was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and came to Nor ...

and

Nicolay Nicolaysen Nicolay Nicolaysen (14 January 1817 - 22 January 1911) was a Norway, Norwegian Archaeology, archaeologist and Norway's first state employed antiquarian. He is perhaps best known for his excavations of the ship burial at Gokstad ship burial, Gok ...

, who worked for the Ministry of Church Affairs, and only after a number of changes were made, they finally approved the plans. In 1869–1870, a new church was built just to the southwest of the old church. The new 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 23 August 1870. After the new church was completed, the old church was torn down. There are several artifacts in the present church that are from some of the previous churches including the

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

candlestick A candlestick is a device used to hold a candle in place. Candlesticks have a cup or a spike ("pricket") or both to keep the candle in place. Candlesticks are sometimes called "candleholders". Before the proliferation of electricity, candles wer ...

church bell A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

, and

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

Media gallery

Os Kyrkjestad..JPG Os kyrkjestad..JPG Church Os Hordaland Norway 2009 5.JPG Church Os Hordaland Norway 2009 4.JPG Church Os Hordaland Norway 2009 3.JPG Church Os Hordaland Norway 2009 2.JPG Church Os Hordaland Norway 2009 1.JPG

References

{{use dmy dates, date=May 2020 Bjørnafjorden Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1870 13th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches

History

Media gallery

See also

References