Siljan 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 ...

Siljan Municipality Siljan is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Siljan. Other villages in Siljan include Snurråsen and Øverbø. The ...

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 Snurråsen. It is the church for the Siljan

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 Skien 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 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 in the late 12th century 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 180 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1398, but the church was not built that year. The first church in Siljan (then known as Slemdal) was a wooden post church that was built in the late 10th century. After a couple of hundred years, the church fell into disrepair and it was replaced with a new stone church on the same site. The stone church was built during the second half of the 12th century. The village was almost wiped out by the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

and did not have its own priest for awhile after that. The church was repaired in 1619 and again in 1736. By the 19th century, the population had increased to such an extent that there was a question of either expanding the old church or tearing it down and building a new church. In 1838, the church was renovated and enlarged. The old west wall was removed and a new wooden,

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 ...

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 built out from the west end of the old church. Then, the old nave became the new

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 the old choir became 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 ...

. The old medieval parts that remained were clad with wood inside and partly outside so that it would match with the new wooden addition. Some more modernization work was completed in 1865. In 1903, a new

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 on the west end of the church. Right after the war, the church was restored by partially uncovering of the medieval church walls of the choir and sacristy. In 1966–1970, the medieval choir (which had become the sacristy) was opened up so it could be seen from the

Media gallery

SiljanKirke.jpg Kirke - no-nb digifoto 20150226 00107 NB MIT FNR 00003.jpg Siljan Kirke (koret).JPG Siljan Kirke (detalje).JPG Siljan Kirke (døbefont).JPG

References

{{use dmy dates, date=December 2022 Siljan, Norway Churches in Telemark Long churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 12th-century churches in Norway 10th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References