Alstahaug Church ( no, Alstahaug kirke) 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 ...

in the municipality of

Alstahaug Alstahaug is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandnessjøen. Som ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

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 one of seven surviving medieval churches in northern Norway.

Petter Dass Petter Pettersen Dass (c. 1647 – 17 August 1707) was a Lutheran priest and the foremost Norwegian poet of his generation, writing both baroque hymns and topographical poetry. Biography He was born at Northern Herøy (Dønna), Nordland, No ...

was the vicar at this church from 1689 until his death in 1707. The church is located in the village of

on the southern end of the island of

Alsta Alsta (historically, ''Alsten'' or ''Alstein'') is an island in the municipalities of Alstahaug and Leirfjord in Nordland county, Norway. The island is surrounded by the Vefsnfjorden to the east, the Leirfjorden to the north, and the Alstenfjo ...

. It is the church for the

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 ...

of Alstahaug, which is part of the Nord-Helgeland deanery in the

Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland Sør-Hålogaland is a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covers the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within Nordland county in Norway. The diocese is headquartered in the town of Bodø at Bodø Cathedral, the seat of the ...

. The stone church was built in a long-church style in the 12th century. The church seats about 270 people.

History

The Romanesque stone church has 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 narrower, almost square

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

where the width is greater than the length. In a first construction phase, the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

and the first or so of the eastern part of the

were built using locally sourced

soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the zo ...

. In the next phase, the rest of the

was completed. During archaeological excavations under the church, no evidence was found for any previous churches on this site. From 1863-1865, the western portion of the old

was torn down and a new, longer and wider nave was rebuilt on the same site. A new tower on the west end was also constructed. This renovation and expansion was led 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 ...

Niels Stockfleth Darre Eckhoff Niels Stockfleth Darre Eckhoff (5 January 1831 – 26 September 1914) was a Norway, Norwegian architect. He was born in Trondheim, Throndhjem as the son of Christian Martin Eckhoff and his wife Nicoline Johanne Luytkis. He married Nicoline Oti ...

. The new addition became the nave, the part of the old nave that remained was converted into a choir, and the old choir was converted in to 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 ...

. In the 1920s, the oldest choir was partially restored to its old form. A thorough restoration was begun in the late 1960s. The original sections were partly restored to their former appearance with smaller windows and steeper roof angles. The new nave from the 1860s got a shape and appearance reminiscent of the old nave. The west tower was removed and the church again got an

onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. These bulbous structures taper smoothly to a point. It is a ty ...

over the roof ridge to the west. The church was reopened after the restoration on 21 June 1970.

Helgeland Kammerkor Helgeland Kammerkor is a mixed choir from the region of Helgeland in Northern Norway. The choir was founded in Sandnessjøen i 1992, and currently has around 30 members. The members of Helgeland Kammerkor meet once a month for rehearsals, and g ...

, a mixed choir from the district of

Helgeland Helgeland is the most southerly district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. It is bordered in the north by the Saltfjellet mountains and Svartise ...

, used Alstahaug Church as the venue for a recording of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

from Helgeland (, 2005). The

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

contains 27 folk tunes from Helgeland, recorded in collaboration with folk musicians from the area.

Gallery

Alstahaug1.JPG, Exterior Altertavle Alstahaug 01.jpg, Church atlapiece Interior Allstahaug 01.JPG, Church altar Portal Alstahaug.JPG, Church Portal Alstahaug kirke - an10071209061003.jpg, Floor plan of the church Alstahaug by Th Holmboe.png, Exterior with the old west tower (c. 1900)

References

{{use dmy dates, date=April 2021 Alstahaug Churches in Nordland Stone churches in Norway 12th-century churches in Norway 12th-century establishments in Norway Long churches in Norway

History

Gallery

See also

References