Old Tingelstad Church () is a former

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 ...

Gran Municipality is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hadeland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Jaren. Other villages in Gran include Bjoneroa, Brandbu, Egge, Gran, and ...

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

Tingelstad Tingelstad is a village in Gran Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located about to the southwest of the village of Brandbu and about east of the large lake Randsfjorden. Tingelstad is the location of the Hadeland Folkem ...

. It is part of the Gran/Tingelstad

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

Hadeland og Land prosti The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Innlandet county plus the parishes in Lunner Municipality in Akershus county. The diocese is based at th ...

(

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 gray, 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 around the year 1220 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 110 people.

History

The stone church at Tingelstad was built around the year 1220 (modern

dendrochronological Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed in a tree. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate ...

dating have dated the wood parts of the roof to the years 1219–1220). It was likely first built as a private chapel for a local manor farm. The design of the church is typical of many Romanesque medieval stone churches, with a rectangular

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 a smaller

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 ...

. The nave measures about on the outside, and the choir measures about . The

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 ...

is actually a little crooked in relation to the nave, and there is 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 ...

on the north side of the chancel. The Old Tingelstad Church has also at some point been rebuilt. At the west end, the gable-end is constructed of wood. In 1673 a report was made that describe the wall as or dilapidated, necessitating reconstruction. In 1820, the old tower was taken down and a new wooden octagonal tower was constructed on the roof of the nave. According to the new church law in 1851, the parish church must have room for a certain percentage of the parish population, and this church was too small. Plans were made to build a new church about to the west of the old church. The new Tingelstad Church was completed in 1866, and after that, the old church was renamed as the "Old Tingelstad Church" and it was taken out of regular use. By royal decree, the church was approved to have one or two annual services each year in the summer. Otherwise it would only be used on special occasions and would be preserved for history.

Inventory

The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

on the wooden

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

bears a copy of a 12th-century

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

. The original vane is held in the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. It is believed that it was once fitted to the bow of a warship. Although the church contains a few other original, medieval features such as a wooden

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

and a stone altar, it is best known for its intact interior from the 16th and 17th centuries. The pulpit is from 1579 and is one of Norway's oldest. An

altar frontal An ''antependium'' (from Latin ''ante-'' and ''pendēre'', "to hang before"; : ''antependia''), also known as a pulpit fall, parament or hanging, or, when speaking specifically of the hanging for the altar, an altar frontal (Latin: ''pallium al ...

from 1699 can also be found in the church. A unique

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

from 1632 depicting the

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian (Danish language, Danish and ) was a Koine language, koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Denmark–Norway, Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1 ...

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

, has been partially revealed on the interior north wall.

Media gallery

Tingelstad old church, south side, 2008-06-01.jpg Tingelstad old church, Gran.jpg Tingelstad old church (west), Gran.jpg Tingelstad 3.jpg Tingelstad old Church.jpg Tingelstad kirke - no-nb digifoto 20160120 00040 NB NS 000150E.jpg Tingelstad kirke - no-nb digifoto 20160120 00039 NB NS 000150D.jpg

History

Inventory

Media gallery

See also

References

Related reading