Harkmark Church
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Harkmark Church ( no, Harkmark 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 Lindesnes Municipality in Agder 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 Harkmark. It is one of the two churches for the Mandal
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
Lister og Mandal 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 1613 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 135 people.


History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1620, but the church was in existence much earlier. The church site has been in use since the
Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...
and it is the only church in Agder that was mentioned in the medieval '' Heimskringla''. The church has a wide circle of six large stones sitting just next to the church. The present church was built in 1613 when the majority of the previous church was torn down, leaving most of the old
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 ...
intact and then a new church building was built onto the existing choir. In 1814, this church served as an election church ( no, valgkirke). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814
Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised th ...
which wrote the
Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...
. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in
Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information E ...
later that year. In 1830, a painting of the Virgin Mary by the famous artist
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
which hung in the church was stolen. In 1845, the church underwent a large renovation. The old choir which was originally narrower and had a lower roof line than the nave was torn down and a new choir was built so that it had the same width and roof line as the existing nave. The nave also got a new ceiling and the tower above the main entrance was built. New, larger windows were installed in the church as well. The timber walls in the church room were probably unpainted originally, but they were covered with white panels during this renovation. When the church was restored in 1972-1975, under the leadership of C.A. Christensen, the white painted panels were removed from the walls leaving the natural wood walls and the painted drapes on the west wall under the organ gallery were recreated.


Media gallery

Harkmark kirke 04.jpg Harkmark kirke, Vest-Agder - Riksantikvaren-T205 01 0175.jpg Harkmark kirke, Vest-Agder - Riksantikvaren-T205 01 0176.jpg


See also

*
List of churches in Agder og Telemark 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 ...


References

{{use dmy dates, date=December 2020 Lindesnes Churches in Agder Wooden churches in Norway 17th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1613 Norwegian election church