Holmedal Church ( no, Holmedal 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 ...

Kvinnherad Municipality Kvinnherad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland, along the Hardangerfjorden. The municipality was the 5th in size in former Hordaland county. The administrative centre of the m ...

in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Utåker. It is one of the three churches for the ''Husnes og Holmedal'' parish which is part of the

Sunnhordland prosti Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Hardang ...

(

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 1882 using plans drawn up by the architect F. Øvrevik. The church seats about 215 people.

History

The church has been around since the Middle Ages. The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1360, but it was not new at that time. The first church was a wooden stave church with a tower that was likely built during the 13th century. The first church was located at Holmedal, about to the northeast of the present church site. In both the 1600s and 1700s, major repairs were undertaken, including removing the tower. The nave measured approximately with a choir that measured about . In 1724, the church was purchased from the Crown by Henrik H. Formann, the manager of the

Lyse Abbey Lyse Abbey or Saint Mary's Abbey, Lyse ( no, Lyse kloster, Lyse Mariakloster) is a now-ruined Cistercian monastery in Bjørnafjorden Municipality in Vestland county in south-western Norway. The name "Lyse" is derived from Lysefjorden near w ...

. The church was sold along with hundreds of other churches during the

Norwegian church sale The Norwegian church sale ( no, kirkesalget) was a comprehensive and systematic sale of most of the church properties in Norway during the 1720s. The purpose of this sale was the intention of improving the poor public finances in the Kingdom of Denm ...

to raise money to pay down the debt from the Great Northern War. By the early 1800s, the old church was in poor shape, so it was decided to tear down the old church and build a new one on the same site. In 1814, the old church was torn down and the owner at that time, Haktor Amundsen Tveit, paid to build a new church on the same site. The new church was a small rectangular church without a separate choir, no tower, and no

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 ...

. The church was approximately . In 1866, the parish purchased the church back from private owners at a cost of 325 Norwegian speciedalers. After the church was constructed the local parish priest, P. Bøckmann complained that it "looks like a barn building and not like a church, it is a cramped house, has no chancel building, no tower, not even a marking that indicates it is God's house" ( no, “ser ud som en Ladebygning og ikke som en Kirke, er et for trangt Hus, ingen Korbygning, intet Taarn, end ikke en Fløi paa Møningen tyder paa at det er Guds Hus”). On 11 December 1880, a royal resolution was passed that approved the moving of the Holmedal Church from its historic location to one that was more centrally located in the parish, about to the southwest in the village of Utåker. In 1882, the church was taken down, moved, and rebuilt using a new design by the local lensmann F. Øvrevik from

Skånevik Skånevik is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. It included the land surrounding both sides of the Skånevikfjord ...

. The new church has a choir that is approximately and the nave is about . The church was renovated for the 100th anniversary in 1982 under the direction of architect Magne Ivarsøy.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=June 2020 Kvinnherad Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1882 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References