Sandeid 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 ...

Vindafjord Municipality Vindafjord is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Haugaland. Since 2005, the administrative centre of the municipality has been the village of Ølensjøen (prior to that time it was the village of ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

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

Sandeid Sandeid is a village in Vindafjord municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located at the head of the Sandeidfjorden, about northwest of the village of Vikedal and about south of the village of Ølensjøen. The village has a ...

. It is the church for the Sandeid

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

Haugaland prosti This list of churches in Rogaland is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Stavanger in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Rogaland county. The diocese is based at the Stavanger Cathedral in the city of Stavanger (city) ...

(

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 Stavanger The Diocese of Stavanger () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Lise Ådnøy, who has held the p ...

. 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 ...

style in 1904 using designs 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 ...

Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff (30 December 1855 – 17 February 1928) was a Norwegian architect. He took his education at the Technical University of Munich, and opened an architect's office in Stavanger in 1881. He was assigned to design several im ...

and Tengesdal. The church seats about 230 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1311, but the church was likely built during the 12th century. The medieval

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 ...

was located at Vestbø, along the harbor of today's village of Sandeid. There is a preserved

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

from the church that dates back to around the year 1200. The stave church was renovated and expanded over the centuries. In 1628, the

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 ...

was replaced with a new timber-framed addition. Eventually the church was in poor condition and in 1814, the church was torn down and replaced with a smaller church with no steeple. In the 1850s, the church was extended to the west so that it could seat more people. In 1904, a new church building was constructed to the northwest on a new plot of land that was part of the same farm. After the new church was completed, the old church was closed and in 1906, the old church was torn down. As workers tore down the church, a number of coins were found under the floor that dated back as far as the 1200s. In the early hours of 5 April 2017 the church's

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a relig ...

was struck by

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

and caught fire, causing significant damage to the structure before the fire was put out by firefighters.

Media gallery

FV514 Sandeid kirke.jpg, Present church building (since 1907) Sandeid gamle kirke T242 01 0002.jpg, Exterior of the old church (1814-1906) Sandeid gamle kirke T242 01 0003.jpg, Interior of the old church (1814-1906) Sandeid gml kirkegård.jpg, Location where the old church once stood

References

{{use dmy dates, date=September 2020 Vindafjord Churches in Rogaland Wooden churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1904 12th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References