Garmo Church ( no, Garmo 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 ...

in Lom Municipality in

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

Garmo Garmo, De Garmo or DeGarmo may refer to: * Charles De Garmo (1849–1934), American educator, education theorist and college president * Diana DeGarmo Diana Nicole DeGarmo (born June 16, 1987) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She r ...

. It is the church for the Garmo

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 (

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, 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 ...

Jacob Wilhelm Nordan. The church seats about 150 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1220, but the church was not new that year. The first church in Garmo was a wooden church that was built in the early 11th century. The first church stood on the shore of the lake

Vågåvatn Vågåvatn or Vågåvatnet is a lake located in Lom and Vågå municipalities in Innlandet county, Norway. The lake is part of the river Otta, which begins in Skjåk municipality, flows into lake Vågåvatn. It then exits the Vågåvatn at Våg ...

, about to the north of the present church site. Probably during the 13th century, the old church was torn down and a new wooden stave church was built on the same site. In 1675, the church was described as old and rotten, and new construction was recommended, but this was not carried out. In 1690, the open-air exterior corridors that surrounded the church were removed, the church was given a new tower on the roof, and it was enlarged by adding

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

cross arms which gave the church a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

design. By the 1870s, the old church had grown too small for the parish, so plans were made for a new church to be built. The new church was to be built about to the south of the old church, just off the main road through Lom. The architect was Jacob Wilhelm Nordan and the lead builder was Elias A. Tonning from Stryn. It was a wooden

. The new church was built in 1879 and it 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 12 September 1879. Afterwards, the old

Garmo Stave Church Garmo Stave Church () is a stave church situated at the Maihaugen museum at Lillehammer in Innlandet, Norway. Garmo Stave Church at Maihaugen is one of the most visited stave churches in Norway. Description Garmo Stave Church originally came ...

was carefully disassembled and moved to

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

where it was rebuilt and set up as a museum.

Media gallery

Garmo kirke.jpg Garmo church, Lom, Norway.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=December 2021 Lom, Norway Churches in Innlandet Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1879 11th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References