Fjørtoft Church ( no, Fjørtoft kyrkje) is a parish church 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 ...

in Ålesund Municipality in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the ...

county, Norway. It is located on the northern side of the small island of Fjørtofta. It is one of the churches for the ''Haram og Fjørtoft'' parish which is part of the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti (

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 Møre The Diocese of Møre ( no, Møre bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway which geographically consists of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Its bishop is seated at the Molde Cathedral which is located in the county administrative cent ...

. 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 1878 using plans drawn up by the architect Johannes Henrik Nissen. The church seats about 200 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back around the year 1600, but the stave church was not new that year. The old church bell has an inscription on it and the date 1520, so it is possible that that is when the church was first constructed on the island of Fjørtofta. Local tradition says that the original church was built by a local nobleman who built it to serve the residents of the island. In the 1600s, it was described as a small wooden building that served the 134 people living on the island at that time. Records show that in 1622, the parish priest came to the church to hold worship services once every 15 weeks. In 1659, the church was described as a

with a low, peat roof. In the 1760s, the church was remodeled with a new timber-framed choir and the ceiling height in the nave was raised, among other things. Residents of the island routinely buried their dead in an informal graveyard around the church, but it wasn't until 1810 that the church first received a formal

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 graveyard. In 1878 a new church was built about to the south of the old church. The new building was designed by Henrik Nissen and the lead builder was Knut Stokkeland. It had a large rectangular nave with a choir and two sacristies on the east end and a church porch with a large tower above it on the west end. The new 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 22 November 1878. The old building was torn down after the new one was completed. In 1902, the cemetery was expanded to the east and southeast and a new stone wall with iron gates was added around the church yard. In 1914, the chapel was upgraded and re-designated as a full parish church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fjortoft Church Buildings and structures in Ålesund Churches in Møre og Romsdal Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1878 16th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References