Hylestad Church ( no, Hylestad 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 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 ...

Valle Municipality Valle () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Setesdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Valle ( ...

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 Rysstad. It is one of the churches for the Valle og Hylestad

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

Otredal 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 c ...

(

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

octagonal In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

design in 1838 by

Anders Thorsen Syrtveit Anders Thorsen Syrtveit, also known as Anders Thorson Syrtveit and Anders Thorsen Solberg, (born 1778 in Iveland, died 1857 in Evje) was a Norwegian builder and architect. Syrtveit also went by the name "Anders kirkebygger" () and is especially k ...

using plans drawn up by the famous

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 ...

Hans Linstow Hans Ditlev Franciscus (Frants) von Linstow (4 May 1787 – 10 June 1851) was a Danish/Norwegian architect who designed the Royal Palace in Oslo and much of the surrounding park and the street ''Karl Johans gate''. Background Hans Ditlev Franc ...

. The church seats about 200 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1328, but it was likely built around the year 1200. The first church in Hylestad was the

Hylestad Stave Church The Hylestad Stave Church was a stave church located in Hylestad (now Valle municipality), Setesdal district, Norway. The church was estimated to have been built in the late 12th to the early 13th century and was demolished in the 17th century. S ...

which was located at Kyrkjemo in the Bjørgum farm area on the east side of the river Otra, about to the northwest of the present church site (on the west side of the river). The old stave church was torn down around the year 1664 when the church was over 450 years old. A new log church was built on the same site to replace the old church. Some decorative parts of the old church were saved and reused in the new church. During the demolition of the old church, workers found 24 coins underneath the church that were dated back to the 1200s. In the 1838, the church was no longer in good condition and it was also too small for the parish, so it was decided to tear down the old church and build a new one. Since the majority of the municipal residents lived on the west side and the newly constructed road through Valle (now Norwegian National Road 9) was also built on the west side of the river, it was decided that the new church would also be built on the west side, right alongside the road. So the old church was torn down and the new one was built at Rysstad about to the southeast of the old site. Some of the items from the old church such as the churchyard wall and the main gate were transported across the river ice during the winter from the old church site to the new site. Much of the old interior artwork and 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 ...

were also reused in the new church.

Media gallery

2174. Sætersdalen, Mellem Valle og Helle - no-nb digifoto 20151105 00116 bldsa AL2174 crop.jpg, View of the church (c. 1885) Hylestad kyrkje300.jpg, Side view of the church Valle Rysstad flatestöylaasen 926m andenapen 821m hylestad kirke rk 84685 IMG 7379.JPG, Exterior view of the church Rystad Cemetery (14947051215).jpg, Hylestad cemetery Valle, Hylestad kyrkje, alter.jpg, Altar inside the church

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2021 Valle, Norway Churches in Agder Wooden churches in Norway Octagonal churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1838 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References