![14-09-02-oslo-RalfR-092](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/14-09-02-oslo-RalfR-092.jpg)
Holmenkollen Chapel (''Holmenkollen kapell'') is located in the neighborhood of
Holmenkollen
Holmenkollen () is a mountain and a neighbourhood in the Vestre Aker borough of Oslo, Norway. It goes up to above sea level and is well-known for its international skiing competitions.
Overview
In addition to being a residential area, the are ...
in the
Vestre Aker
Vestre Aker (Western Aker) is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. It has a population of 50,157 as of 2020.
The previous Aker Municipality was merged into the city of Oslo in 1948.
The borough of Vestre Aker was organized as part of the 1 Ja ...
borough of
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, Norway. The original chapel from 1903 was destroyed by arson in 1992. The new chapel was completed in 1996. Holmenkollen Chapel is a listed site, registered in Norway's cultural heritage database.
Planning and construction of the former chapel
Holmenkollen Chapel was first built in 1903 after designs by architect
Holger Sinding-Larsen as a
paneled wooden
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...
pole construction.
"Holmen og Voxenselskabet" was founded in 1880 for the acquisition and development of the area as a recreational area for locals. When the company disbanded in 1890, it gave one of its plots of to the municipality of Oslo to build a sports chapel.
Closely related to Holmenkollen Chapel was ''Fortidsminneforeningen''. This association was established in 1844 with several painters as initiators. It was primarily the painter
Johan Christian Dahl
Johan Christian Claussen Dahl (24 February 178814 October 1857), often known as or , was a Danish-Norwegian artist who is considered the first great romantic painter in Norway, the founder of the "golden age" of Norwegian painting, and, by some ...
who spoke in favour of a
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 a ...
design. The association was the birthplace of a young generation of Norwegian architects around the turn of the 20th century, reviving the tradition of Norwegian historic wooden architecture. They searched back to the early
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, when Norway had its
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...
. They emphasized identity and their own history, nature and architecture. Holmenkollen Chapel was a direct result of the young generation of architects' emerging awareness of this heritage.
From chapel to church
From its opening in 1903, the building was used as a chapel. Only in 1913 was it dedicated to the use of
church services
A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sa ...
and
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
ceremonies such as
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
,
confirmation
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
, marriage and
funerals
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
in addition to sports services. The chapel was intended as a facility for
hikers
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Hist ...
who wanted to attend a Sunday service, even if they chose to go up into the heights for exercise and fresh air. Hiking in the woods was almost fashionable in the late 19th century.
Tourist hotels, restaurants,
spa
A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...
s and
sanatorium
A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...
s were built in the area, making it a destination also for the growing population of the capital Christiania, (now
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
).
Nature trails
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. T ...
and roads led up the ''Holmenkollåsen'' (the hill at Holmenkollen).
Royal Lodge
In 1910, the
Royal Lodge
The Royal Lodge is a Grade II listed house in Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, England, half a mile north of Cumberland Lodge and south of Windsor Castle. Part of the Crown Estate, it was the Windsor residence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mothe ...
(''Kongsseteren''), located close to the chapel, was presented to
King Haakon and
Queen Maud as a
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
gift from the Norwegian people. The Royal Lodge is a regular haunt of the
Norwegian royal family. Whenever they are there – especially during the Christmas holidays and the traditional
Holmenkollen competitions in March – they visit the Holmenkollen Chapel.
Fire and reconstruction
![Holmenkollen kapell IMG 6926](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Holmenkollen_kapell_IMG_6926.jpg)
The chapel was burned down in an act of
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
on 23 August 1992. The police first concluded that the fire was not intentional, but that it was due to a defect in the electrical system. Later, this explanation was withdrawn and the
black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...
artists
Varg Vikernes
Louis Cachet (born Kristian Vikernes; 11 February 1973), better known as Varg Vikernes (), is a Norwegian writer and retired musician best known for his early black metal albums and later crimes. His first five records, issued under the name Bur ...
(of
Burzum) and
Bård "Faust" Eithun were tried and sentenced;
Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth had also participated, but was murdered by Vikernes before the trial.
An early proposal from the church to build a modern chapel was soon abandoned as a result of a popular demand to build a church that looked like the original building. With half of the funds from the private collection, a new chapel was designed by architect
Arne Sødal and built in 1996.
The new chapel
The new chapel was built with inspiration from the stave churches of
Rauland
Rauland is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1860 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Vinje Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Raulandsgrend (also known ...
and
Heidal
Heidal or Heidalen is a valley in Sel Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The U-shaped valley follows the river Sjoa which begins in the nearby Jotunheimen mountains eastward until it joins the Gudbrandsdalslågen river in the main va ...
, built with massive
plank
Plank may refer to:
*Plank (wood), flat, elongated, and rectangular timber with parallel faces
*Plank (exercise), an isometric exercise for the abdominal muscles
* Martins Creek (Kentucky), the location of Plank post office
* ''The Plank'' (1967 fi ...
s and
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
walls. Its
arch
An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it.
Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
es are made of solid
spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
roots and only old
handicraft
A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
techniques were used. To facilitate construction, an accurate
3-dimensional
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...
model was made first. Drawings based on the model were used for making all of the components in
Vågå
Vågå () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vågåmo. Other village areas in Vågå include Lalm and Besshe ...
before they were brought to Holmenkollen by road and assembled as a kit.
The chapel has new stave church features, and benefits from
dragestil Dragestil ("Dragon Style") is a style of design and architecture that originated in Norway and was widely used principally between 1880 and 1910. It is a variant of the more embracing National Romantic style and an expression of Romantic nationali ...
wood carvings. The chapel serves as a new working church. In addition to the church, the complex contains an
assembly hall
An assembly hall is a hall to hold public meetings or meetings of an organization such as a school, church, or deliberative assembly. An example of the last case is the Assembly Hall (Washington, Mississippi) where the general assembly of the st ...
, kitchen and meeting rooms.
Byens fornyelse
in Norwegian
References
External links
Parish website
in Norwegian
{{Authority control
Lutheran churches in Oslo
Holmenkollen
Churches completed in 1996
1903 establishments in Norway
20th-century Church of Norway church buildings
Churches completed in 1903
Wooden churches in Norway
National Romantic architecture in Norway
Churches destroyed by arson
Buildings and structures in Norway destroyed by arson