Øye Church ( no, Øye kyrkje) 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 activities, ...

of the Church of Norway in Surnadal Municipality in Møre og Romsdal 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 the ...

. It is located between the two villages of Sylte and Skei. It is one of the two churches for the ''Øye og Ranes''

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 o ...

which is part of the Indre Nordmøre prosti ( deanery) in the

Diocese of Møre The Diocese of Møre ( no, Møre bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway which geographically consists of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Its bishop is seated at the Molde Cathedral which is located in the county administrative center ...

. The white, wooden church was built in a long church design in 1871 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 ...

Jacob Wilhelm Nordan Jacob Wilhelm Nordan (23 February 1824 – 11 April 1892) was a Danish-born, Norwegian architect. During his career, he was one of the most prolific church architects in Norway. Biography Nordan was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and came to Norw ...

. The church seats about 300 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1589, but the church was not new that year. There has been a church in the Sylte-Skei area for a long time. Not much is known about the first church, but it was a

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 ar ...

that stood on the same site as the present church. It may have been built in the 14th century. In 1589, the church was transferred administratively to the

Stangvik Stangvik is a village in Surnadal Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located along the Stangvikfjorden, about southwest of the villages of Surnadalsøra and Skei. The village is home to Stangvik Church. County R ...

. Probably during the 1600s, the church was enlarged by adding

transepts A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

to give the church a

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 describe ...

design. In 1699, a new Surnadal parish was created and Øye Church was included in that new parish. In 1724, the old medieval church was torn down and a new church was built on the same site. The new church 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 woode ...

, elongated

octagonal In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") 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, w ...

design with a tower on the roof of 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-type ...

. It also had a sacristy extension on the east end. In 1855, the private owners of the church sold the building to the local congregation. A long deliberation began among the villagers to decide what to do with the church–should they remodel it, enlarge it, or tear it down and build a new church. In 1870, the old church was torn down and work on a new church building was completed on the same site the following year in 1871. The new church was designed by standardized plans by

with some changes by Hans Larsson Øye and

Ole Scheistrøen Ole Olsen Scheistrøen (16 August 1833 – 4 February 1921) was a Norwegian architect and builder. Scheistrøen had no formal architectural education and he, in fact, referred to himself as a builder and not an architect. However, he designe ...

. The new church was consecrated on 30 June 1871. In 1934, the church building was wired for electricity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oye Church Surnadal Churches in Møre og Romsdal Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1871 14th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References