Stokken 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 ...

Arendal Municipality Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

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 Saltrød. It is one of the churches for the Moland

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 Arendal 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, 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 ...

design in 1878 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 ...

Johan Christoff Friedrich Reuter. The church seats about 400 people.

History

The church was originally built as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

for the Stokken congregation of the

Austre Moland Austre Moland (historic: ''Østre Moland'') is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The roughly municipality existed from 1838 until 1962 when it was merged with several neighboring municipalities to form the new munic ...

parish. The

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 ...

church stands on a slope at Stuenes. It was designed by Johan Christoff Friedrich Reuter and the builder Carl Svendsen was the lead builder. The church was

consecrate 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 ( ...

d on 13 August 1879. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

, depicting Jesus in the

Garden of Gethsemane Gethsemane ( ) is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus Christ underwent the Agony in the Garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. The garden is ...

, was painted by Hedevig Lund for Austre Moland Church in 1869, but the work was not accepted by the congregation at the time. Some years later, it was given to the new church in Stokken. The work needed to have a new piece added to it to function as an altarpiece. In 1929, the master painter Emil Rummelhoff decorated the church's gallery with a frieze, with heads of grain and grapes to symbolize the Eucharist. At the same time, he painted the entire interior of the church, and for the restoration for the church's centennial in 1979 the

Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage The Directorate for Cultural Heritage ( or ''Direktoratet for kulturminneforvaltning'') is a etat, government agency responsible for the management of cultural heritage in Norway. Subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, it mana ...

recommended that Rummelhoff's design be retained. The church bells were cast at the Olsen Nauen Bell Foundry in 1879. The organ has nine stops and was produced by

Josef Hilmar Jørgensen Josef Hilmar Jørgensen (March 28, 1892 – November 2, 1961) was a Norwegian organ builder. Jørgensen was the owner of the J. H. Jørgensen organ company. The company was originally called Olsen & Jørgensen from 1892 to 1925Frisk, Anna, Sv ...

in 1928. The plans for Stokken Church were later used to build Færvik Church and

Bjorbekk Church Bjorbekk Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Arendal Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Bjorbekk. It is one of the churches for the Øyestad parish which is part of the Arendal prosti (deane ...

Media gallery

Krk-saltroed.jpg Stokken kirke, Aust-Agder - Riksantikvaren-T187 01 0011.jpg Stokken, Salterød - no-nb digifoto 20151103 00043 NB MIT FNR 04658.jpg

References

External links

Stokken Church at Kirkesøk

Stokken Church at Kulturminnesøk
{{use dmy dates, date=January 2021 Buildings and structures in Arendal Churches in Agder Cultural heritage of Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1879 1879 establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links