Skjerstad Church ( no, Skjerstad kirke) is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the 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 community activitie ...

of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. ...

in Bodø Municipality in

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It is located in the village of

Skjerstad Skjerstad () is a village in Bodø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The small village of Skjerstad sits at the mouth of the Misværfjorden, where it joins Skjerstadfjorden. The village is also the location of Skjerstad Church. The vi ...

, along Skjerstadfjorden. It is one of two churches for the ''Misvær og Skjerstad''

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

which is part of the Bodø domprosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman 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 reside ...

) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland. The white, stone and concrete church was built in a

long church Church building in Norway began when 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 instance under Urnes Stave ...

style in 1959 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 ...

Arnstein Arneberg Arnstein Rynning Arneberg (6 July 1882 – 9 June 1961) was a Norwegian architect. He was active professionally for 50 years and is often considered the leading architect in Norway of his time. Personal life Arnstein Rynning Arneberg was ...

. The church seats about 500 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church in Skjerstad date back to the year 1390, but the church was not new that year. No descriptions of the church building from that time remain, but it was located about southeast of the present church site. In 1633, a new wooden

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

church was completed on the same site as the previous church that had just been torn down. By the 1750s, the church had been repaired several times and was no longer in good condition. It was decided to build a new church. Parish leaders chose a new site for the church, about northwest of the old church site. The new church was completed in 1759. It was a

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

building with a sacristy next to the

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

on the east end, an entry porch on the west end, and a small tower on the roof above 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-typ ...

. In 1814, this church served as an

election church An election church ( no, valgkirke) is a term used for approximately 300 churches in Norway that were used as polling stations during the elections to the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. This was Norway's first national election ...

( no, valgkirke). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814

Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised th ...

which wrote the

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction = Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , ...

. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information ...

later that year. In 1848, the old church was torn down and replaced with a new building on the same site using plans by the

Hans Linstow Hans Ditlev Franciscus (Frants) von Linstow (4 May 1787 – 10 June 1851) was a Danish/Norwegian architect who designed the Royal Palace in Oslo and much of the surrounding park and the street ''Karl Johans gate''. Background Hans Ditlev Franci ...

. This new building, unfortunately, burned down on 18 February 1873. A new, larger church to replace it was completed in 1877 using plans by the architect

Håkon Mosling Håkon Adelstein Mosling (born 16 April 1840, died 7 October 1914) was a Norwegian builder and architect. Mosling lived in several places, including Trondheim (1865-1873), Steinkjer (1874-1894), and Oslo (1894-1914). As part of his architectur ...

. This new building had a

design instead of the cruciform design of previous buildings. It was

consecrate Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

d on 31 October 1877. This building was destroyed by fire on 17 May 1955. The present church building was completed in 1959.

Media gallery

Skjerstad Church seen from the west.jpg, Skjerstad Church from south east.jpg, Skjerstad church altar.jpg, Skjerstad church nave.jpg, Skjerstad church organ and gallery.jpg, Skjerstad church pulpit.jpg, Skjerstad gml kirke flyfoto.jpg, Old Skjerstad Church (1877-1955)

References

{{use dmy dates, date=April 2021 Churches in Bodø Churches in Nordland Stone churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1959 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church Long churches in Norway Concrete churches in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References