Øyfjell Church ( no, Øyfjell 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 The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

Vinje Municipality Vinje is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Åmot. General inform ...

Vestfold og Telemark Vestfold og Telemark (; ) is a county under disestablishment in Norway. The county is the southernmost one of Eastern Norway and consists of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of Telemark and (most of) Vestfold. T ...

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 t ...

. It is located in the village of

Øyfjell Øyfjell is a village in Vinje Municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The village is located in the southeastern part of the municipality, along the river Vikåi, about to the east of the village of Åmot. Øyfjell Church is locat ...

. It is the church for the Øyfjell

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 or m ...

which is part of the Øvre Telemark prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman 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 residenc ...

) in the

Diocese of Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark ( no, Agder og Telemark bispedømme) is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and most of Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth larges ...

. The white, wooden church was built in a

long church Church building in Norway began when 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 instance under Urnes Stave C ...

design in 1833 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 ...

Hans Linstow Hans Ditlev Franciscus (Frants) von Linstow (4 May 1787 – 10 June 1851) was a Danish/Norwegian architect who designed the Royal Palace in Oslo and much of the surrounding park and the street ''Karl Johans gate''. Background Hans Ditlev Franc ...

. The church seats about 72 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1401, but the church was not new that year. The first church in Øyfjell 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 a ...

that was built during the first half of the 13th century. Not much is known about the old church, but it is said that the church was similar in design to the

Eidsborg Stave Church Eidsborg Stave Church ( no, Eidsborg stavkyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Tokke Municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Eidsborg. It is one of the churches for the ''Eidsborg, M ...

. It is said that the entire population of the whole parish except one single woman died during the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

. Records show that services were held in the church about eight times per year during the late 1500s. In 1668, the church was still standing and it was described as a stave church surrounded by open-air covered corridors. After several centuries, the church had fallen in to disrepair by the early 1800s. In 1826, the church was torn down and a new church built on the same foundations. The new

was built in

log construction A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term "log cabin" generally refers to a sma ...

using designs by

. The new church was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

in the fall of 1833. The new church has a square

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 ...

with a tower on the west. In 1963, a

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in 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 usually located ...

was built on the east end.

Media gallery

Vinje, Øyfjell kyrkje V 01.JPG Øyfjell kirke.jpg Øyfjeld Kirkegaard.JPG

References

Vinje Churches in Vestfold og Telemark Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1833 13th-century establishments in Norway {{VestfoldTelemark-church-stub

History

Media gallery

See also

References