Eid Church ( no, Eid 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 ...

Stad Municipality Stad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The municipality includes much of the northern shore of the Nordfjorden as well as the Stad peninsula. The administrative centre of the ...

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

Nordfjordeid Nordfjordeid is the administrative centre of the municipality of Stad in Vestland county, western Norway. It is located at the end of the Eidsfjorden, an arm off of the main Nordfjorden, west of the large lake Hornindalsvatnet. The village of S ...

. It is the church for the Eid

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

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 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 1849 by the builder Claus Wiese using plans from 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 ...

Hans Linstow Hans Ditlev Franciscus (Frants) von Linstow (4 May 1787 – 10 June 1851) was a Danish/Norwegian architect who designed the Royal Palace in Oslo and much of the surrounding park and the street ''Karl Johans gate''. Background Hans Ditlev Franc ...

. The church seats about 550 people. This is the fifth church building to sit at Nordfjordeid.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1322, but it was likely built during the 12th century, making it one of the oldest church sites in

Nordfjord 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 muni ...

. The first church building here 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 ...

was located at Myklebost, a hill a little to the northeast of the present church location. Not much is known about this church. The church was described as old and prosperous in a letter dated 1336. At some point in the 1300s, it was replaced, likely after a fire. The replacement church was built a short distance away in Mel, just north of the present church. Not much is known about this building either, but it was in use throughout the 1400s and 1500s. Around the year 1600, the old church building was torn down and a new building was constructed on the present site of the church. The new building was a

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 wooden ...

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 described ...

building with a tower in the center of the roof. The church was renovated in the 1680s, receiving a new floor and ceiling. Unfortunately, the church was destroyed by fire after a lightning strike in 1689. A new church was completed in 1692 on the same site as the previous church. It too was a wooden

church with a very similar design to the previous church. In 1814, this church served as an

election church An election church ( no, valgkirke) is a term used for approximately 300 churches in Norway that were used as polling stations during the elections to the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. This was Norway's first national election ...

( no, valgkirke). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814

Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised th ...

which wrote the

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

. This was Norway's first national elections. Each

church 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 ...

was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information E ...

later that year. In the spring of 1846, the old church building was deemed to be too small for the congregation, so it was decided to tear down the old church and build a larger church. From May to October in 1849, the new church building was constructed alongside the old church which was torn down in the fall of 1849 after the new church was completed. The new building was a wooden

that was originally designed to seat about 900 people )but with current fire codes, the number has been reduced). The building was designed by

Claus Wiese Claus Wiese (March 1, 1924 – September 7, 1987) was a Norwegian actor and American-based radio broadcaster. Wiese was born in Lillestrøm. He graduated from the Oslo Cathedral School in 1944 and worked as an actor with the Oslo New Theater fr ...

who based the plans off some standardized drawings by

. The lead builder for the new church was Ole Olsen Løken. The 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 29 October 1849 by the Bishop

Peder Christian Hersleb Kjerschow Peder Christian Hersleb Kjerschow (29 June 1786 – 24 November 1866) was a Norwegian clergyman. Biography He was born at Rødøy in Nordland, Norway. He was the son of the Danish-born priest Rasmus Sundt Christensen Kjerschow (1739–1806) an ...

. In 1915, 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 adjacent to the

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 ...

during a major restoration of the building. Electric heat and light were added to the building at the same time. The painter and woodcarver Lars T. Kinsarvik led the interior work of redecorating the

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

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 ...

as well as building a new

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

and new

pews A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom. Overview The first backless stone benches began to appear in English churches in the thirt ...

. On 24 November 2016, the church was broken into and vandalised, causing damages estimated to . A suspect was arrested by police the same day and confessed to the vandalism.

Media gallery

Eid kirke Nordfjordeid Sogn og Fjordane 2014-09-17.JPG Eid kyrkje (01).jpg Eid kyrkje (02).jpg Kirche in Nordfjordeid 01.jpg Eid kyrkje Nordfjord Wilse.jpeg Kirche in Nordfjordeid 02.jpg Kirche in Nordfjordeid 11.jpg Kirche in Nordfjordeid 06.jpg Kirche in Nordfjordeid 07.jpg Kirche in Nordfjordeid 08.jpg Kirche in Nordfjordeid 09.jpg Kirche in Nordfjordeid 10.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=August 2021 Stad, Norway Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1849 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church

History

Media gallery

See also

References