Eksingedal Church ( no, Eksingedal 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 ...

Vaksdal Municipality is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordhordland. The administrative centre is the village of Dalekvam. Other villages in Vaksdal include Dalegarden, Flatkvål, Helle, Nesheim, S ...

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

Flatkvål Flatkvål /fla:kol/ is a village in the Eksingedalen valley in Vaksdal municipality, Vestland county, Norway. The village lies along the river Storelvi, about northeast of the village of Stamneshella. The Modalen Tunnel is located about west ...

in the

Eksingedalen Eksingedalen or Eksingadalen is a valley that makes up the northeastern part of Vaksdal Municipality in Vestland County, Norway. The Eksingedalen valley stretches over from the Vikafjell mountains all the way to the Inner Osterfjorden. The Eks ...

valley. It is the church for the Eksingedal

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

Hardanger og Voss prosti Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord and its inner branches of the Sørfjorden and the Eid Fjord. It consists of the municipalities of Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik and Kvam, and is l ...

(

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 stone 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 1883 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 ...

Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff (30 December 1855 – 17 February 1928) was a Norwegian architect. He took his education at the Technical University of Munich, and opened an architect's office in Stavanger in 1881. He was assigned to design several im ...

. The church seats about 120 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1626 when an

annex chapel A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...

was built on this site. The chapel was called ''Flatekval kapell''. There is some evidence that could be interpreted to show that the chapel built in 1626 was built to replace another chapel dating back to the

middle ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, but that is not known for sure. The rectangular, wooden chapel measured about . The chapel fell under the Mo Church parish, and the chapel had one

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 ...

each year on the feast day for St. Swithun (2 July). By 1666, the building was reportedly already in poor condition. In 1883, the Eksingedalen valley became a separate parish, so the chapel was torn down to make room for a new, larger church.

was hired to design the new church. The new building measured about . It also had a

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

with a tower above. 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 12 June 1883. 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 added to the east of 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 ...

according to drawings by Sigmund Lie in 1984.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=May 2020 Vaksdal Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1883 1626 establishments in Norway

History

See also

References