Harøy Church ( no, Harøy 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 in

Ålesund Municipality Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, County, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centr ...

in Møre og Romsdal 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 the ...

. It is located in the central part of the island of

Harøya Harøya is a swampy island in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. At , it is the largest island in the municipality. The island is located between the islands of Finnøya (to the northeast) and Fjørtofta (to the southwest ...

, just north of the Lomstjønna Nature Reserve. It is one of the two churches for the Sandøy

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 o ...

which is part of the

Nordre Sunnmøre prosti ''Nordre'' (Northern), formerly known as ''Haramsnytt'' (The Haram News), is a local Norwegian newspaper covering events in the northern part of the municipality of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county. History The newspaper was established as ''Ha ...

( deanery) in the

Diocese of Møre The Diocese of Møre ( no, Møre bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway which geographically consists of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Its bishop is seated at the Molde Cathedral which is located in the county administrative center ...

. The white, wooden church was built in a long church design in 1934 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 ...

s Fredrik Ziegler Kavli and Paul S. Michelsen. The church seats about 340 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1589, but it was described as an old, dilapidated building at that time. The first church at Harøy was a wooden

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ar ...

located at Huse, about north of the present location of the church. It was possibly built during the 14th century. Originally the church was an

annex chapel A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...

to the main Aukra Church. Since this annex church was built on a rocky island, there was no graveyard surrounding the church. Parishioners had to travel to Aukra Church to bury their dead. In 1625, the church was described as being in very poor shape. It must have been repaired around that time. Again in 1786, the church was said to be in poor condition. In 1812, after years of neglect and lack of repairs, both the Sandøy Church and Harøy Church were in poor condition, so they both were torn down. To replace them both, a single new church was constructed on the west side of the island of Sandøya, about northwest of the former location of the Sandøy Church which made it closer to Harøya island than the previous location of the church. This meant that the residents of Harøya island had to travel by boat to Sandøy Church rather than having a church on their own island. This new building was built on better ground, so it was able to have a graveyard around the church, but this left no church on the island of Harøya any more. In 1907, a new graveyard was built on the island of Harøya so that residents didn't have to travel as far to bury their dead. The graveyard was located about south of the site of the Old Harøy Church. Soon after, people began to push for a new church to be built alongside the cemetery. In 1913, a committee was appointed to work for the church on the island. In the beginning, there was a desire for a stone building before ending up with a decision to build a wooden church, not least for financial reasons. Planning for the new church took many years. A number of draft drawings were submitted and evaluated, especially from Fredrik Ziegler Kavli and Ole Havnæs. Drafts prepared by Kavli were chosen and they were further developed after Kavli's death in 1930 by Paul S. Michelsen. These drawing were used for the construction of the new church. Formal permission to build the church was granted by a

Royal Decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

on 24 February 1933. The church was consecrated on 9 June 1934. On the same day, a memorial stone was unveiled at the old medieval church site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haroy Church Buildings and structures in Ålesund Churches in Møre og Romsdal Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1934 14th-century establishments in Norway 1810s disestablishments in Norway 1934 establishments in Norway

History

See also

References