Jelsa Church ( no, Jelsa 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 ...

Suldal Municipality Suldal is a municipality in the northeast corner of Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Ryfylke. Since 1965, the administrative centre of Suldal is the village of Sand i Ryfylke (prior to that it was the villag ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

county, Norway. It is located in the village of Jelsa. It is the church for the Jelsa parish which is part of the

Ryfylke prosti This list of churches in Rogaland is a list of the Church of Norway churches in Rogaland county, Norway. The churches are all part of the Diocese of Stavanger. The diocese is based at the Stavanger Cathedral in the city of Stavanger. The list ...

(

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 Stavanger. 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 1647 using designs by an unknown architect. The church seats about 150 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1280, but it was not new that year. The original church was a stave church that was located on the same site as the present building. In 1647, the old stave church was torn down and replaced. The west gable of the new church appears to have been built of staves from the older church. The new church has a rectangular nave and a somewhat narrower and lower 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 later that year. In the 1850s, the church underwent a major restoration and a

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 ...

was constructed on the east side of the choir and the exterior walls were re-sided. Also, the second floor galleries with additional seating were constructed around the sides of the nave. In 1871, the tower on the west end was demolished and replaced with a larger sacristy and an octagonal steeple was built on the west end of the nave. In the 1950s, the church was restored and much of the 17th century interior and fixtures were restored. The original ceilings were restored and reconstructed. The ceiling of the nave has a starry sky painted on the ceiling, and in the chancel there are vines and arches with biblical figures painted on the walls. The richly decorated bench rails and doors from the original interior were restored and supplemented. Also, Christian IV's royal monogram was hung above the chancel opening. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

comes from the previous stave church and it was made in 1623-1625.

Media gallery

Jelsa kyrkje.jpg Jelsa1.jpg Jelsa2.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2020 Suldal Churches in Rogaland Wooden churches in Norway 17th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1647 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church

History

Media gallery

See also

References