Svend Halvorsen Aspaas (1736–January 1816) was a Norwegian

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 ...

and builder who is known for several of the churches he built. He was also a master builder for the Røros Copper Works. He is credited as having invented and built a type of pumping station for mines. He was also known for building many bridges and dams. Svend Aspaas was born on the Aspaas farm in the parish of

Ålen Ålen may refer to: Places *''Ålen'' (also known as Renbygda), a village in Holtålen Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Ålen Municipality, a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway *Ålen Station, a railway statio ...

(now part of

Holtålen Municipality Holtålen is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is located in the Ålen area o ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county). He moved to the nearby mining town of

Røros Røros may refer to: Places * Røros Municipality, a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Røros (town), a town within Røros Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Røros Church, a church in Røros Municipality in Trøndelag county, No ...

when he was young and he worked at the copperworks there. As a 17-year-old, he apprenticed as a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and later he was promoted and became a master at his trade. He was sent to

Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production and fo ...

in 1769 to receive further training in mining. In 1784, he went to the

Falun Mine Falun Mine () was a mine in Falun, Sweden, that operated for a millennium from the 10th century to 1992. It produced as much as two-thirds of Europe's copper needs and helped fund many of Sweden's wars in the 17th century. Technological developme ...

where he learned the use of slag stone as a building material.

Church builder

Aspaas is best known as a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

builder. He started out with a simple background and developed into a great architect who created several of the 18th century masterpieces in Norwegian church architecture. He received the credit for a number of large

octagonal In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a hex ...

churches listed in the period 1780 to 1834, including several churches that were completed after his death. This view has lasted a long time in Norwegian architectural history. During the construction of

Røros Church Røros Church or Bergstadens Ziir () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Røros Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. Located in the Røros (town), town of Røros, it is the main church for the Røros parish which is part of the Ga ...

in 1779–1784, he joined in 1780 as leader of the masonry work, after the work had been started by mason Mohr from Trondheim. Svend Aspaas also worked together with Peder Ellingsen on woodwork and decoration of the church. Aspaas led the construction of

Sør-Fron Church Sør-Fron Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sør-Fron Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Hundorp. It is the church for the Sør-Fron parish which is part of the Sør-Gudbrandsdal prosti ...

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; ) is a valley and Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norway, Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer (town), Lillehammer and the lake ...

in the period from 1786 to 1792. The church was an octagonal stone church. His knowledge of masonry of high walls was necessary for the task and knowledge of constructions of bridges came in handy in the construction of the enormous roof structure. Vang Church near

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

was built in 1806–1810. The church's architect was the parish's own parish priest Abraham Pihl. Pihl had to go away on a prolonged assignment for the king, with Aspaas taking over Pihl's task as executive builder in his absence. The only church where Aspaas probably was both architect and builder is Stor-Elvdal Church. He provided drawings and models for the church in 1807 and led the work himself, which, however, was not completed until after Aspaas' death. The church is in its main form a greatly simplified version of Røros church, or rather with

Tynset Church Tynset Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Tynset Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the town of Tynset. It is the church for the Tynset parish which is part of the Nord-Østerdal prosti (deanery) in t ...

as a model, but with a central tower such as

. Some architectural misunderstandings reveal that it was not a skilled architect who shaped the church. The interior was also made with Tynset Church as a model, influenced by Røros Church's pulpit altars, but far simpler. Aspaas was probably not to be regarded as an innovative architect, his strength in church building lay in the technical skills as an executive builder. His son Runar Aspaas designed, among other things, the octagonal Tolga Church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aspaas, Svend 1736 births 1816 deaths People from Holtålen 19th-century Norwegian architects 18th-century Norwegian architects