Nord-Hålogaland ( no, Nord-Hålogaland bispedømme) is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

in 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 ...

. It covers the

churches in

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...

county as well as in the territory of

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø at the

Tromsø Cathedral Tromsø Cathedral ( no, Tromsø domkirke) is a cathedral of the Church of Norway located in the city of Tromsø in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The cathedral is the church for the ''Tromsø Domkirkens'' parish and i ...

, the seat of the presiding bishop,

Olav Øygard Olav Øygard (born 29 July 1956) is a Norwegian Lutheran prelate of the Church of Norway who serves as the Bishop of Nord-Hålogaland since 2014. Nord-Hålogaland covers Troms and Finnmark countries, and also Svalbard. Øygard is a self-descr ...

(bishop since 2014).

History

Originally, this area was a part of the great

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

, which covered all of

Northern Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical Regions of Norway, region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainlan ...

from

Romsdalen Romsdalen is a valley in the western part of Norway. The long valley runs through Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county. It is the valley of the Rauma river, from Old Norse word ''Raumsdalr'' w ...

and north (

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

Troms Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...

, and

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 ...

counties). On 30 December 1803, the King of Norway named

Peder Olivarius Bugge Peder Olivarius Bugge (2 December 1764 – 6 December 1849) was a Norwegian priest and politician. He was the bishop of the Diocese of Nidaros from 1804 until 1842. Biography Peder Olivarius Bugge was born at Holt, Aust-Agder, Holt in Aust-A ...

the "Bishop of

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

and

Romsdal Romsdal is a traditional district in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal, located between Nordmøre and Sunnmøre. The district of Romsdal comprises Aukra, Fræna, Midsund, Molde, Nesset, Rauma, Sandøy, and Vestnes. It is named after the val ...

" and also named

Mathias Bonsach Krogh Mathias Bonsach Krogh (4 October 1754 – 2 September 1828) was a Norwegian clergyman who served as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Hålogaland. Krogh was also a member of the first ordinary Parliament of Norway. Biography Krogh was ...

the "Bishop of

and

", thus essentially splitting the diocese into two starting in 1804, although legally it was one diocese with two bishops. The newly appointed Bishop Krogh (in 1804) made

Alstahaug Church Alstahaug Church ( no, Alstahaug kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in the municipality of Alstahaug in Nordland county, Norway. It is one of seven surviving medieval churches in northern Norway. Petter Dass was the vicar at this ch ...

the seat of his bishopric in the north, while Bishop Bugge stayed in

. The new diocese was legally created on 14 June 1844 as '' Tromsø stift'' and it was to be seated in the city of

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

. The new

was completed in 1864. The name of the diocese was changed to ''Hålogaland bispedømme'' in 1918. When Svalbard became part of Norway in 1920, it also became a part of this diocese. In 1952, the Diocese of Hålogaland was split into two: 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 ...

(Nordland county) and the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland (

, and

Bishops

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 ca ...

s of the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland since its creation in 1952 when it was split off from the

Diocese of Hålogaland The Diocese of Hålogaland ( no, Hålogaland bispedømme, historically: ) was a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covered the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within all of Northern Norway (including Nordland, Troms, and F ...

: *1952-1961:

Alf Wiig Alf Kristian Theodor Wiig (24 August 1891 – 10 July 1974) was a Norwegian bishop in the Church of Norway. Wiig was born in Kristiansund, Norway. He served as vicar in Karasjok from 1923 to 1934 and in Sortland from 1934 to 1945. He was then ...

*1962-1972:

Monrad Norderval Monrad Oskar Norderval (1902–1976) was a Norwegian bishop in the Church of Norway. Norderval was born in Ålesund, Norway in 1902. He graduated with the cand.theol. degree in 1928 from the Royal Frederick University in Oslo. He began his min ...

*1972-1979:

Kristen Kyrre Bremer Kristen Kyrre Bremer (12 July 1925 – 16 May 2013) was a Norwegian theologian and bishop in the Church of Norway. Education and career Bremer was born in Tana, Norway in 1925. Bremer received his cand.theol. degree in 1953 in the Faculty of The ...

*1979-1990:

Arvid Nergård Arvid Halgeir Nergård (11 April 1923 – 23 November 2006) was a Norwegian bishop in the Church of Norway. He was born in Lenvik, Norway in 1923. He received a degree in agronomy in 1943 and the cand.theol. degree in 1952. He served as cura ...

*1990-2001:

Ola Steinholt Ola Markus Steinholt (4 October 1934—20 April 2009) was a Norwegian bishop in the Church of Norway. He was born in Trondenes, Norway in 1934. He graduated from the University of Oslo with the cand.theol. degree in 1959. He was a parish ...

*2002-2014:

Per Oskar Kjølaas Per Oskar Alfred Kjølaas (born 25 May 1948 in Kirkenes, Norway) was the bishop of the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland in the Church of Norway from 2002 until 2014. Kjølaas studied at the MF Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo, having graduated w ...

*Since 2014:

Cathedral

Construction of the new

began in 1861. It was designed by architect

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. H ...

. The cathedral was built of wood in

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. The interior is dominated by the altar, a copy of the ''Resurrection'' by

Adolph Tidemand Adolph Tidemand (14 August 18148 August 1876) was a noted Norwegian romantic nationalism painter. Among his best known paintings are ''Haugianerne'' (''The Haugeans''; 1852) and '' Brudeferd i Hardanger'' (''The Bridal Procession in Hardanger''; ...

Structure

The Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland is divided into nine

deaneries 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 ...

( no, prosti). Each one corresponds to several municipalities in the diocese. Each municipality is further divided into one or more

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 ...

es which each contain one or more congregations. See each municipality below for lists of churches and parishes within them.

Media gallery

Domkirken i Tromso innvendig.jpg, Interior
Tromsø Cathedral Tromsø domkyrkje.jpg, Side entrance
Tromsø Cathedral Tromsø domkyrkje2.jpg, Front
Tromsø Cathedral

References

External links

Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland websiteTromsø Cathedral picture gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diocese Of Nord-Haalogaland Nord-Haalogaland Organisations based in Tromsø Religious organizations established in 1804 Troms og Finnmark Finnmark Troms 1804 establishments in Norway