Romfo 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 ...

Sunndal Municipality is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Nordmøre Districts of Norway, region located in the northeast part of Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village o ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

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 Romfo in the inner part of the Sunndalen valley, along the river

Driva The Driva river runs through Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal counties in Norway. The headwaters lie in the Dovrefjell mountains in the south, from where it flows northward, downward through the Drivdalen valley in Oppdal Municipality. When the ri ...

. It is the main church for the Romfo

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

Indre Nordmøre prosti Indre (); is a department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administrative region of Centre ...

(

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 Møre The Diocese of Møre () is a diocese in the Church of Norway which geographically consists of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Its bishop is seated at the Molde Cathedral which is located in the county administrative center of Molde. , the Bisho ...

. The white, wooden church was built in an

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 ...

style in 1821 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 Pedersen Tøfte. The church seats about 267 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1589, but it was not new that year. The first church here was located along the river

about to the east of the present church site, in a place called ''Musgjerd''. The first church was described as a small, rectangular

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 ...

with no tower and it may have been built in the 14th century. The church sat at the base of steep mountains along the

river valley and at times over the centuries, it had been damaged in

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

s. In the 1680s, the building was renovated and repaired because it was in such poor condition. The repairs temporarily worked to keep the building in use, but by the early 1700s, the church was again said to be quite dilapidated. In 1707, the church site was torn down and the church site was moved about further downstream to the northwest to a place called Romfo. The new site was on a large flat area in the centre of the river valley which had a much smaller chance of being damaged by an avalanch. The new church at Romfo was completed in 1708. 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 ...

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 ...

with a tower, and some materials from the old Musgjerd church were reused in the construction of the church. In the early 1800s, the church was damaged by flooding on the nearby river Driva, so it was decided to move the church a little further away from the river on some higher ground. In 1820, the old church was torn down and work on a new church began. The new building was constructed from 1820-1821 and it 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 14 August 1821 by the Bishop

Peder Olivarius Bugge Peter Olivarius Bugge (2 December 1764 – 6 December 1849) was a Norwegian priest and politician. He was the bishop of the Diocese of Nidaros from 1804 until 1842. Biography Peter Olivarius Bugge was born at Holt, Aust-Agder, Holt in Aust-A ...

. The new church had an octagonal design 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. Later, 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 ...

on the east end of the building. In 1890, a number of changes were made to the interior, and the church was painted inside and out. In 1937-1940, the church was restored back to its original appearance.

Media gallery

Romfo kirke - an10071203221001.jpg, Painting of the old church building (1708-1820) Romfo kirke, Møre og Romsdal - Riksantikvaren-T343 01 0006.jpg, Photo of the present church (1934) Romfo kirke 18.08.2013 cropped.JPG, Photo of the present church (2013)

References

{{use dmy dates, date=July 2021 Sunndal Churches in Møre og Romsdal Wooden churches in Norway Octagonal churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1821 14th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References