Arnafjord Church ( no, Arnafjord 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 ...

Vik Municipality Vik (Old Norse: vík) means wick or bay in Norwegian and Swedish (''vig'' in Danish), and it may refer to the following: Places Iceland *Vík í Mýrdal, a village in southern Iceland Iran *Vik, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran Norway *V ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where 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

Nese Nese may refer to: * Nese, Italy, a village in northern Italy * Nese, Norway, a village in south-western Norway * Nese language, an Oceanic language or dialect spoken in Vanuatu * Tony Nese, American professional wrestler See also * Neşe, ...

, along the Arnafjorden. It is the church for the Arnafjord

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

Sogn prosti Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestra ...

(

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 Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin ( no, Bjørgvin bispedømme) is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway. The cathedral city is Bergen, Norway's second ...

. 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 1880. The master builder John Gjertsen from

Sogndal Sogndal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansverk is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other villages i ...

made the designs, while builder Anders Korsvold was responsible for the construction. The church seats about 180 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1340, but it was not built that year. The first building 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 probably built in the 1100s. This first church was located in Flete, about across the Arnafjorden to the southeast of the present site. In 1645, a new church located at the present site in Nese was constructed and after it was completed, the old stave church was torn down and the materials from the old church were used by the local farmers. The last

worship service A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adorat ...

at the old church was held and then one week later, the first service was held in the new church. By the late 19th century, the church was in poor condition and it was also too small for the congregation. There was much correspondence between the parish and the owner of the church. Eventually, the owner sold the church building to the parish. The parish then decided to tear down the old building and to construct a new church just a few meters to the southeast of the old building. The parish hired Johannes Gjertsen to design the new building and Anders Korsvold was hired as the lead builder. Many of the materials from the 1645 church were reused in the construction of the new church. The new church was

consecrate 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 ...

d on 21 October 1880. The new building had a

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

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 ...

. In 1963, the church had electric heat installed as part of a large renovation. In 1968, 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 that included a bathroom.

Media gallery

Arnafjord kirke 20160829 00290 NB MIT FNR 28381 A cropped.jpg, View of the church in 1978 Door lock from 12th century, from Arnafjord church, Vik.jpg, 12th century door lock in the present church Part of glass painting from Arnafjord church.jpg, Glass painting from the church, now in the Bergen Museum

References

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2021 Vik Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1880 12th-century establishments in Norway