Ås Church ( or historically, ) 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 ...

in Vestre Toten Municipality in

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 Bøverbru. It is the church for the Ås

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 Toten 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 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 white, stone church was built in a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

design in 1921 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 ...

Henry Bucher Henry Bertram Bucher (February 9, 1864 – October 29, 1944) was a Norwegian architect. After studying under Ludvig Haslund and August Tidemand, Bucher studied at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry in Christiania and ...

. The church seats about 500 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1337, but the church was not built that year. The first church in Ås was a wooden

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ...

that was likely built during the 13th century. According to an inscription on a wooden plate on the back of 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, ...

, the church must have been closed down and deserted from around 1570 until around 1665. Around 1665, the old church was torn down and a new church was built on the same site. The local parish priest Knud Sevaldsen Bang oversaw the construction of the new wooden

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 ...

. The new building was completed around the year 1670. During the 1700s, the church was too small, so two new

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

wings were built to the north and south of the old

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 ...

, creating a

floor plan. The church quickly fell into disrepair and during the late 1780s, the church was torn down. In 1788–1789, a new church was built on the same site. This church was a wooden

design with a central tower on the roof over the nave. This new building was

consecrated 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 (a ...

on 9 September 1789. The building was thoroughly restored in the 1860s. On 15 July 1915, the church was struck by lightning and it burned down. Fortunately, some of the interior furnishings were able to be saved from the fire. After the site was cleared, work began on another replacement church.

was hired to design the new

neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

cruciform stone church. This building was

on 9 March 1921. The church has a rather characteristic, compact shape (with relatively short cruciform arms) and a large imposing central tower.

Media gallery

Ås kirke på Bøverbru kirke i aprilsnø.jpg IMG 9853-2 Aas kirke.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2022 Vestre Toten Churches in Innlandet Cruciform churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1921 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References