Kors Church ( no, Kors 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 ...

Rauma Municipality Rauma is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre is the town of Åndalsnes. Other settlements in Rauma include the villages of Måndalen, Innfjorden, Vebl ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the ...

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 Marstein in the central part of the

Romsdalen Romsdalen is a valley in the western part of Norway. The long valley runs through Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county. It is the valley of the Rauma river, from Old Norse word ''Raumsdalr'' w ...

valley. It is the church for the Kors

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

Indre Romsdal prosti Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administra ...

(

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 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 brown, wooden church was built in a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

design in 1797 using plans drawn up by an unknown

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 ...

. The church seats about 120 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church in the

valley date back to the year 1497, but the church was not built that year. The first church 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 a ...

that was probably located at Flatmark in the central Romsdalen valley, about from the present church location (some sources say the first church was at Foss, about further upstream from Flatmark). It was likely built during the 14th century. The old church was replaced during the 1660s with a new church at Flatmark. In 1797, the church was torn down and replaced by a new

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

church. The church was surrounded by a cemetery which, in turn, was surrounded by large, tall trees. The church has served the residents of the inner Romsdalen valley for centuries from the 1400s onwards. After a long-standing controversy about the location of the future church, it was decided 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 23 March 1901 that the Øverdalen Chapel would be built to serve the southern part of the valley. Moreover, the Kors Church would be moved farther to the northeast and it would serve the central part of the valley. So, in 1901, the church was disassembled, moved, and rebuilt about down the valley to Marstein where it is now located. The building was rebuilt with some new materials and a somewhat more

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

look by the lead builder L. Sæther. The newly rebuilt church was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

in 1902. It fell into disrepair over time, but was renovated and restored to its original appearance in 1964 under the leadership of Torgeir Suul.

Media gallery

Kors-kirke-Norway.jpg Korskirke-Romsdalen-Norway.jpg Marstein.jpg Kors kirkes altertavle T327 01 0181.jpg 2010-07-30 - Holzkirche bei Marstein - Romsdalen - panoramio.jpg 342 Kors Kirke i Romsdalen - no-nb digifoto 20160302 00088 bldsa L KK0212 crop.jpg Kors gamle kyrkjegard Flatmark.JPG, Cemetery that surrounded the old church in the old location

References

External links

* {{use dmy dates, date=July 2021 Rauma, Norway Churches in Møre og Romsdal Wooden churches in Norway Cruciform churches in Norway 18th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1797 14th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References

External links