Alvdal Church ( no, Alvdal 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 in

Alvdal Municipality Alvdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Alvdal. Other villages include Barkald, Plassmoen, and Strømmen ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

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 in the village of

Alvdal Alvdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Alvdal (villa ...

. It is the church for the Alvdal

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

Nord-Østerdal prosti The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar which includes all of Innlandet county (plus two municipalities in Viken county) in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each d ...

( deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar. The white, wooden church was built in an long church design in 1861 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 ...

Christian Heinrich Grosch Christian Heinrich Grosch (21 January 1801 – 4 May 1865) was a Norwegian architect. He was a dominant figure in Norwegian architecture in the first half of the 1800s. Biography Christian Heinrich Grosch was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. ...

. The church seats about 450 people.

History

The first church in Alvdal was built in 1639 (there is some circumstantial evidence that a medieval

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 ...

stood here before 1639, but that is not proven). The church from 1639 was a wooden long church that was dedicated to Saint Nicholas. The church was consecrated in 1639 by the Bishop

Oluf Boesen Olaf of Denmark – Danish: ''Oluf'' - may refer to: * Olaf I of Denmark * Olaf II of Denmark no, Olav Håkonsson , house = Bjelbo , father = Haakon VI of Norway , mother = Margaret I of Denmark , birth_date = ...

. The first church (then known as the ''Lille-Elvdalen Church'') was built by the Randmæl farm, along the river

Glomma The Glomma, or Glåma, is Norway's longest and most voluminous river. With a total length of , it has a drainage basin that covers fully 13% of Norway's surface area, all in the southern part of the country. Geography At its fullest length, the ...

, about south of the present site of the church. Prior to the construction of this church, the people of Alvdal travelled to the nearby Tylldalen Church. In 1709, the old church was torn down. From 1709 to 1715, a new, larger

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 ...

long church was built on the same site. From 1855 to 1861, a new wooden long church was built in the village of Alvdal, about north of the old church site. The new church was designed by

. The new church was consecrated on 12 October 1861. After the new church was completed, the old church was torn down. In 1867, the new church got exterior siding and it was painted. In 1882, a new altarpiece was built by Carl Frithjof Smith (before that time, a large wooden cross stood above the altar.

Media gallery

Alvdal kirke.JPG Alvdal Kirke md.jpg Alvdal Kirke.jpg Alvdal kirke T116 01 0166.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=December 2021 Alvdal Churches in Innlandet Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1861 17th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References