Eystein Church ( no, Eysteinkyrkja) 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 ...

Dovre Municipality Dovre is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dovre. Other villages in Dovre include Dombås and Hjerkinn. The m ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

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

Hjerkinn Hjerkinn is a village in the municipality of Dovre in Innlandet county in Norway. The village is located in the Dovrefjell mountains, about northeast of Dombås and about northwest of the village of Folldal. It is one of the driest places in th ...

. It is one of the two churches for the Dombås

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

Nord-Gudbrandsdal prosti The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar which includes all of Innlandet county (plus two municipalities in Viken (county), Viken county) in Norway. The list is divided into several sections ...

(

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 Hamar The Diocese of Hamar ( no, Hamar Bispedømme) is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner in Viken county. Administratively, the diocese is divided ...

. The white, modern, cast concrete 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 1969 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 ...

s Magnus Poulsson and Anton Poulsson. The church seats about 110 people.

History

King Eystein Magnusson is said to have built mountain lodges along the road through the

Dovrefjell Dovrefjell is a mountain range in Central Norway that forms a natural barrier between Eastern Norway and Trøndelag. The mountain range is located in Innlandet, Møre og Romsdal, and Trøndelag counties in Norway. As a result of its central loca ...

mountains. Legend has it that there was also a church built in the area of today's village of

. Archaeological records support the idea that the church was likely built during the 11th or 12th century and it likely fell out of use sometime around the year 1500. All of this was the inspiration for the 20th-century ''Eysteinkyrkja''. During the 1930s, discussions began for building a chapel along the old road through the Dovrefjell mountains near the Hjerkinn mountain lodge. The local priest in Dovre and the Bishop Kristian Schjelderup supported the idea. Magnus Poulsson was hired to design the new church (although he died before its completion and his son Anton Poulsson finished the work). The new modern-looking concrete church was completed in 1969. The building was

consecrated 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 ...

on 3 August 1969. 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 ...

is almost trapezoidal in shape, although it is a

, with the exterior walls angled towards each other as they get closer 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 ...

Media gallery

Hjerkinn eysteinkirka rk 84585 IMG 1240.JPG Hjerkinn eysteinkirka rk 84585 IMG 1241.JPG Eysteinskyrkja Dovre 2021 04.jpg Eysteinskyrkja Dovre 2021 05.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=December 2021 Dovre Churches in Innlandet Long churches in Norway Concrete churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1969 1969 establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References