Bremanger Church ( no, Bremanger 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

Bremanger Municipality Bremanger is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village of Svelgen is the administrative centre of the municipality. Other villages include Bremanger, Berle, Davik, Isane, Kalvåg, Svelgen, Rugsund, and Ålfoten. Bremanger i ...

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 the ...

. It is located in the village of Bremanger on the island of

Bremangerlandet Bremangerlandet is an island in Bremanger Municipality in the traditional district of Nordfjord in Vestland county, Norway. The island is one of the largest islands in the county. The highest point on the island is the tall mountain Svartevasse ...

. It is the church for the Bremanger

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

Nordfjord prosti Nordfjord ( en, Northern fjord—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district of Norway. Geography The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises the mun ...

( deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1914 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 ...

Anders Karlsen from Eid. The church seats about 400 people. The church was originally called ''Bremangerpollen Chapel''. The name was changed to ''Bremanger Church'' in 1952. The church is located at Hauge, in the innermost part of the Bremangerpollen bay. The church was consecrated on 4 September 1914 by the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Johan Willoch Erichsen Johan Willoch Erichsen (15 February 1842 – 22 August 1916) was a Norwegian bishop and theologian in the Church of Norway. He was Bishop of the Diocese of Bjørgvin from 1899 until shortly before his death in 1916. Life and family Erichse ...

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1330, but it was likely not new at that time. The first church in Bremanger 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 ar ...

tat was located at Grotle, on the southwest shore of the island of

, about west of the village of Bremanger. This church was likely first built during the 13th century. In 1652, the church was remodeled and expanded such that it then had 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 1695, the church was torn down and replaced by a new

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 ...

building. This new church was built immediately west of the site of the old building. This building was in use until 1865, when the aging church at Grotle was torn down. At that time, it was decided to move the location of the Bremanger parish church from Grotle to the village of Kalvåg which was further to the south so that it would be more centrally located within the parish. The new Bremanger Church was completed in 1865. The people living in the northern part of

island were now without a nearby church of their own. The new Bremanger Church to the south, on the island of Frøya was nearly to the south. The people who lived further north on the island complained that the journey to that church had become too long and strenuous. Going by boat from Bremangerlandet to Frøya was often a risky undertaking, which kept people from going to church. The people felt that if they got a church in their own village, many more people would get the opportunity to listen to the words of the

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

. These people, even the

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

, had to eventually yield to such a strong argument, and so the work was started in the 1890s to erect a new annex chapel in the village of Hauge (now called Bremanger). A new chapel was built at Hauge in 1908 and on 1 July 1908 the parish was divided into two, with all of the farms between Vetvik (in the north) and Nøtset (in the south) being transferred to the new ''Bremangerpollen'' parish. A few days after the establishment of the new parish, the new ''"bedehus"'' (

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

) was consecrated at Hauge for church functions. From the village of Vetvik the journey to church was still more than long enough, and for those who chose not to go by boat, the alternative was a three-hour hike across the mountain. The new chapel was very small and was not in use for very long. A new, larger chapel, known as ''Bremangerpollen Chapel'' was completed in 1914 to replace the little chapel that was originally used from 1908 until 1914. This new building was designed by Anders Karlsen from Eid, and the lead builder was Jørgen Myroldhaug. The new church was consecrated on 4 September 1914. The stones for the foundation wall were taken from the mountain straight up from the church site. This work was carried out on a voluntary basis by the villagers themselves, in addition to the transportation of the wooden building material. In 1952, the chapel was renamed as ''Bremanger Church''. In 1964, electric heating was installed in the building.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=September 2021 Bremanger Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1914 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References