Fortun Church ( no, Fortun 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 ...

in Luster Municipality in

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 Fortun. It is the church for the Fortun

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

Sogn prosti Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestra ...

(

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 1879 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 ...

Erik Pedersen Rusten. The church seats about 250 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1323, but it was not new that year. The first church was a wooden stave church that was likely built sometime between 1160 and 1180. The original building had a rectangular

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 ...

measuring and a slightly narrower wide

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 ...

. The original church stood about northeast of the present location of the church. Around 1650, a new tower was built on the church. In 1666, the choir was torn down and replaced with a larger

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 ...

room, the same width as the nave. In 1696–1698, the church porch was torn down and rebuilt. Over time, the church became too small for the congregation and it was decided to replace it. A new church was built about southwest of the old church, a little closer to the river. The new church was completed and

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 6 June 1879. It was designed by Erik Pedersen Ruste. After its completion, the parish offered to sell the old church to the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments, but the Society could not afford it. Then, the decision was made to tear down the old church, but there was some controversy about this decision. Eventually, it was torn down, but the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

Fredrik Georg Gade Fredrik Georg Gade (21 March 1855 – 1 March 1933) was a Norwegian physician. Personal life He was born in Bergen as the son of merchant Fredrik Georg Gade (1830–1905) and his wife Ingeborg Wallem (1830–1902). The family originated in Lün ...

bought most of the building materials and moved them to Fantoft in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

in 1883. There, Gade rebuilt the church and named it Fantoft Stave Church. Gade used the Borgund Stave Church as the model for his reconstructed church, so it was not a true reconstruction of the old Fortun Stave Church after it was rebuilt. It was used as a museum and cultural site for over a century. On 6 June 1992, the centuries-old church was destroyed in an

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

fire. Soon after, in 1997, a replica building was completed on the same site, but virtually all of the old parts from the original stave church in Fortun had been lost.

Media gallery

File:Church of Fortun - Picture 1.jpg, Exterior view File:Fortun Lindahl.jpeg, View of the church in the late 19th century File:Fortun old.jpg, View of the old stave church before it was moved to Bergen

References

{{use dmy dates, date=September 2021 Luster, Norway Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1879 12th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References