Romnes 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 ...

Nome Municipality Nome is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Midt-Telemark and historically part of the Grenland region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ulefoss. Other villages ...

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

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 Romnes. It is one of the churches for the ''Holla og Helgen''

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 Øvre Telemark 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 Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark () is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth largest city. Kristiansand Cathedral serves as the seat of t ...

. The white, stone 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 around the year 1100 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 100 people. The church was taken out of regular use in 1867 and since then, it has been used for special occasions and a few summer worship services each year.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1338, but that is not the year the church was built. The Romanesque stone

was built in the late 1100s, sometime after the year 1150. It was originally dedicated to St. Lavrans. The 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 26 September, but the year is unknown. As with most medieval churches in Norway, 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 ...

and

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 ...

are in clearly separated rooms with a relatively narrow opening between them. Like many medieval churches in

Eastern Norway Eastern Norway (, ) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region of Norw ...

, Romnes does not have any windows in the north wall. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

originally had a south

portal Portal may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), a series of video games developed by Valve ** ''Portal'' (video game), a 2007 video game, the first in the series ** '' Portal 2'', the 2011 sequel ** '' Portal Stori ...

, but was closed and walled up at some point. Some time during the 19th century, 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 ...

and bell tower were built at the west portal. Prior to this time, there had been a small tower on the roof of the nave which was removed when the new tower was completed. The choir has a semi-circular

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

on the east end. The internal measurements of the

are with thick walls. The choir is wide. The wall thickness in the choir is . The diameter of the apse is . After the Black Death in Norway, the church fell into severe disrepair. There is some evidence that implies that parts of the church walls may have collapsed during this time. After the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, the church was changed in several ways. The windows were probably enlarged, and

pews A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a synagogue, church, funeral home or sometimes a courtroom. Occasionally, they are also found in live performance venues (such as the Ryman A ...

and a second floor galleries were added. The

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

emptied the royal treasury, and then in 1723, King Frederick IV, held the

Norwegian church sale The Norwegian church sale () was a comprehensive and systematic sale of most of the church properties in Norway during the 1720s. The purpose of this sale was the intention of improving the poor public finances in the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway aft ...

and many churches to raise money to pay off his debts. Romnes Church was purchased by the

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

Peder Alstrup from

Bamble Bamble is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Langesund ...

. Alstrup sold the church on 30 December 1734 to the local

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

factory owner Herman Leopoldus of the

Løvenskiold family The Løvenskiold family (until 1739 Leopoldus) is a Dano- Norwegian noble family of German origin. Members of the family now live primarily in Norway. Originally named Leopoldus, it was one of the early patrician Norwegian families to buy noble s ...

. In 1833, the current factory owner, Eggert Løvenskiold, sold the church to the State, which in turn let it pass into private hands to factory owner

Diderik von Cappelen Diderik von Cappelen (21 June 1761 – 3 April 1828) was a Norwegian wholesaler, merchant, shipowner, estate owner and politician in 1814. He is often referred to as Diderik von Cappelen but he spelt his name ''Didrich von Cappelen'' and is also ...

. By the mid-1800s, the local population had grown, and the three local churches ( Holla Church, Helgen Church, and Romnes Church) were all quite small and in fairly poor condition. The local factory owner owned all three churches and he offered to give them to the municipality for free around 1850 in return for the municipality also taking over responsibility for all the maintenance of the old buildings. The municipality refused the offer. In 1860, there was a large flood and the local population helped to save the factory from flood damage. After this, the factory owner Cappelen agreed to finance the construction of the new Holla Church. When this new, larger, modern church was completed in 1867, the old Romnes Church was closed. The church was then handed over to the local landowner

Niels Aall Niels Aall (1 December 1769 – 23 October 1854) was a Norwegian estate owner, businessman and politician. Family Niels Aall was the son of lumber merchant Nicolai Benjamin Aall (1739–98) from Porsgrunn and his wife Amjørg Jørgensdatte ...

who undertook to maintain the building. The building was initially left untouched, but in 1921, the church was restored. Domenico Erdmann removed some of the modern paint on the walls and uncovered old drapery paintings on the walls of the choir from the 1450s. In 1932, Finn Krafft decorated the ceiling and walls of the main entrance and repeated motifs from these drapery paintings. The church was restored again in the 1970s after extensive damage from Old house borer beetles. The municipality took over ownership of the church from the

Aall family Aall is a Norwegian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Anathon Aall (1867–1943), Norwegian academic *Hans Aall (1869–1946), Norwegian museum director *Hans J. C. Aall (1806–1894), Norwegian politician *Jacob Aall (1773–1844) ...

in 1986 (this family had owned the church building for many, many years). Currently, the church remains a part of the parish, but it is no longer in regular use. The church is used for several special services during the summer each year in addition to special occasions such as weddings or special events.

Media gallery

Romnes Kirke.JPG Romnes kirke.jpg Gravminder ved Romnes Kirke.JPG Romnes kirke - no-nb digifoto 20160225 00202 NB MIT FNR 06207.jpg Detalj fra altertavlen i Romnes med speilmonogram.jpg Alter i Romnes kirke.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=November 2022 Nome, Norway Churches in Telemark Long churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 12th-century churches in Norway 12th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References