Follebu Church ( no, Follebu kirke) 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 ...

Gausdal Municipality Gausdal 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 Segalstad bru. Other villages in Gausdal include Follebu, Forset, a ...

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

Follebu Follebu is a village in Gausdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located along the river Gausa, about to the southeast of the village of Segalstad bru. The town of Lillehammer lies about to the southeast of Follebu. F ...

. It is the church for the Follebu

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

Sør-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) in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each d ...

(

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, 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 1260 using plans drawn up by an unknown

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 ...

. The church seats about 140 people. The church can be reached via Norwegian County Road 2550 and Norwegian County Road 2530.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1341, but the church was not new that year. The church in Follebu is a stone church that was built from 1260 to 1300. It is a rectangular Gothic structure. Stone churches in the

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The co ...

region were quite rare in the middle ages, but

Gausdal Gausdal 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 Segalstad bru. Other villages in Gausdal include Follebu, Forse ...

had two stone churches built in the 13th century and both have survived to this day. The church is not huge, but the walls are very thick: in the west wall and approximately in the other walls. This gives an interior floor area of about . The internal height along the wall is about . The

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

and the

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 ...

have rich acanthus ornamentation created by

Eistein Kjørn Eistein Guttormsen Kjørn, a.k.a. Østen Kjørn or Estin Kjørn, (1727–1805) was a Norwegian woodcarver. Kjørn was born at the Old Sandbu farm in Vågå. He was one of the leading woodcarvers in the Gudbrand Valley. He followed in the footstep ...

. There is a cemetery around the church. In 1686, a small

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 just off the

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 ...

. In 1868, the old sacristy was torn down and a new, larger sacristy was built to replace it. In 1872, 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 ...

was built as the main entrance to the building.

Media gallery

Follebu kirke-2.JPG FV341 Follebu krk I.jpg Follebu kirkegård.JPG Follebu kirke - an10071203065005.jpg Follebu kirke - an10071203065002.jpg

Parish

The Follebu parish was incorporated into Gausdal Municipality on 1 January 1838 after the

Formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

law went into effect. Gausdal was divided into the separate municipalities of

Vestre Gausdal Vestre Gausdal is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1879 until its dissolution in 1962. The area is now part of Gausdal Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Forset. His ...

and

Østre Gausdal Østre Gausdal is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1879 until its dissolution in 1962. The area is now part of Gausdal Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Segalstad br ...

in 1879, but they were reunited into one municipality in 1962. Th
database
for

Norske Gaardnavne ''Norske Gaardnavne'' (English: Norwegian Farm Names) is a 19-volume set of books based on a manuscript prepared from 1897 to 1924 by Oluf Rygh, a noted professor of archaeology, philology, and history at the University of Oslo. The book contains a ...

Vol IV published in 1900 contains

Gårdsnummer The gårdsnummer or cadastral unit number is the number of a farm unit in the Norwegian land register and it serves as the assessor's parcel number. The modern abbreviation is Gnr, although the Norske Gaardnavne ''Norske Gaardnavne'' (English: Norw ...

1-32 for Follebu Parish in Østre Gausdal municipality. Th
Matrikkelutkastet av 1950
lists

119-150 for Gausdal municipality because all of the

in Østre Gausdal were increased by 118 to eliminate duplication with the Vestre Gausdal

when the two municipalities were reunited. The parish records start in 1693 fo
Gausdal

Prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

and in 1846 fo
Østre Gausdal

at Digitalarkivet. The attached KML file shows the church location and the farm locations in Gnr/ Bnr format.

References

External links

Follebu Church at Kirkesøk

Follebu Church at the Directorate for Cultural Heritage website

Follebu Church parish website
{{use dmy dates, date=December 2021 Gausdal Churches in Innlandet Churches in Sør-Gudbrandsdal Deanery Long churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 13th-century churches in Norway Churches completed in 1260 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

Parish

See also

References

Further reading

External links