Ringsaker 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 ...

Ringsaker Municipality Ringsaker () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Br ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (Jevnaker Municipality and Lunner Municipality were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken ( ...

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

Moelv Moelv is a town in Ringsaker Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is located along the shores of the lake Mjøsa, about south of the town of Lillehammer and about the same distance northwest of the town of Hamar. Moelv is the seco ...

. It is the church for the Ringsaker

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

Ringsaker prosti The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Innlandet county plus the parishes in Lunner Municipality in Akershus county. The diocese is based at th ...

(

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 Hamar The Diocese of Hamar () is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner Municipality in Akershus county. Administratively, the diocese is divided into 1 ...

. The white, stone 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 ...

design around the year 1150 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 300 people.

History

The church in Ringsaker was built in the 12th century, possibly around the year 1150 or a little earlier. The Romanesque stone church originally had 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 with a small

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

and a large tower above the centre of the nave (the tower did not have a tall spire, however). In the late 1200s, the church was expanded and given a lot of Gothic features. The choir was enlarged to the east and the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was expanded by adding

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

wings to the north and south, creating a

floor plan. Interestingly, the north wing is longer than the south wing. A large

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 north side of the choir. In 1594, a man named Matz Tårnbygger built a spire on top of the stone tower. In 1652,

Werner Olsen Werner Olsen ( 1600 – 1682) was a Norwegian church builder and a tower builder with a legendary reputation. He is also known as Werner Olsen Skurdal in reference to the last residence he lived at. Life Olsen was born in Ringsaker. He lived duri ...

, the famous builder, constructed a new tower and spire. On 22 September 1669, the tower blew down in a storm. The church sat without a spire for many years until 1694 when Oluf Iversen Helmen built a new tall spire. 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.

Media gallery

Ringsaker kirke 66209 F09.jpg Ringsaker kirke 66208 F08.jpg The Ringsaker church -ringsaker -norway -photo -architecture (5461068542).jpg Ringsaker kirke 66300.jpg Ringsaker, Norway - panoramio (1).jpg Ringsaker kirke - no-nb digifoto 20150206 00054 NB MIT FNR 15888.jpg RINGSAKER KIRKE - an10071202154016.jpg Skipet i Ringsaker kirke.JPG Ringsaker kirke 66205 F05.jpg Ringsaker kirkes indre.jpg Alteret i Ringsaker kirke.JPG Dåpshus fra Ringsaker NF.1941-0148.jpg 11584 Ringsaker - Interiør fra den ca 900 år gamle kirke - no-nb digifoto 20150812 00059 bldsa PK26216 (cropped).jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2022 Churches in Ringsaker Churches in Innlandet Cruciform churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 12th-century churches in Norway 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches

History

Media gallery

See also

References