Seegård 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 ...

Gjøvik Municipality Gjøvik () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Bybrua, and Hunndalen. The municipality is the 169th largest by a ...

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 Seegård. It is one of the churches for the Snertingdal

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 Toten 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 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 brown, wooden church was built in a

rectangular In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a rectilinear convex polygon or a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90 ...

design in 1997 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 ...

Arne Thorsrud. The church seats about 250 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1575, but the church was not built that year. The first church in Seegård 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 possibly built during the 14th century. This church was built on a site about to the northwest of the present church building. In 1617, the old

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 ...

torn down and a new choir was built on the same site. In 1652, 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 ...

was added on to the building. In 1781, the old church was torn down and a new wooden church was built with a cruciform floor plan on a new site about to the southeast of the older church site. The new church was designed by Amund Nilsen Gloppe. This new building 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 ...

in 1782. This church burned down on Palm Sunday (27 March) 1994, destroying the church and none of the historic interior furnishings were saved. Soon after, the parish began planning for a new church building on the same site. The new church was designed by Arne Thorsrud and

in 1997. The new church includes the main

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

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 ...

room, plus it also has a church hall, some smaller rooms, and a kitchen.

Media gallery

Seegaard kirke interioer.jpg Organ of Seegård Church.jpg Altarpiece of Seegård Church, Snertingdal, Norway.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2022 Gjøvik Churches in Innlandet Churches in Toten Deanery Rectangular churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1997 14th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References