Gjøvdal Church ( no, Gjøvdal 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 ...

Åmli Municipality Åmli is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The main population centre and administrative cen ...

in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of

Askland Askland is a village in Åmli municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located in the Gjøvdal valley, just north of the river Gjøv. The village of Homdrom lies about to the southeast and the municipal centre of Åmli lies about t ...

in the

Gjøvdal Gjøvdal (historic: ''Gjevedal'') is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1908 until its dissolution in 1960. It covered the Gjøv river valley and the surrounding moors. It is currently pa ...

valley. It is the church for the Gjøvdal parish which is part of the

Aust-Nedenes prosti This list of churches in Agder og Telemark is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark in Agder and Vestfold og Telemark counties in southern Norway. The diocese is based at the Kristiansand Cathedral in the cit ...

(

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 Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark ( no, Agder og Telemark bispedømme) is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and most of Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth larges ...

. 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 1803 using plans drawn up by the architect Gjermund Gunnarson Veum. The church seats about 200 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1421, but the church was likely founded during the 1200s. The church is believed to be located on the same site as an ancient heathen hof. The first church was a stave church that served the whole Gjøvdal valley. The church was historically known as ''Askland Church'' since it is located in the village of Askland, but around the 1600s, it began to be known as the ''Gjøvdal Church'', after the valley in which it is located. In 1724, the priest Niels Pedersen purchased all the churches in the Åmli

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 ...

when the King put them up for sale to help pay off his war debts. Over the years, the ownership of the church passed between different people. In 1779, the people of the Gjøvdal area purchased the church together so that the congregation could own the building. After purchasing the church, the parish noted that the church was in poor condition and repairs were undertaken to improve the building. By the 1800s, the church was still in poor condition and the repairs had not helped a lot, so it was decided to tear down and replace the old stave church. The church was torn down in the spring of 1803. A new, larger timber-framed church was built that same year on the same site by Gjermund Gunnarson Veum from Fyresdal, a neighboring valley to the north. It has a rectangular nave, a straight-ended chancel and a

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 ...

to the east. To the west there is a tower with an entry porch at the base of the tower. During construction in the summer of 1803, the services took place outdoors. In the autumn of 1803, the church was enclosed, so the priest received permission from the bishop to use the church, although it took a couple more years before the church was fully completed. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

is called ''Gethsemane'' and it was completed in 1922. There was some restoration work done in 1953 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its completion.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2021 Åmli Churches in Agder Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1803 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References