Kvam Church ( no, Kvam kirke) 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 ...

Nord-Fron Municipality Nord-Fron is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vinstra. Other population centers in Nord-Fron include the villages ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). 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

Kvam Kvam is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located along the Hardangerfjorden in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Norheimsund. Other larger settle ...

. It is the church for the Kvam

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

Nord-Gudbrandsdal prosti The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar which includes all of Innlandet county (plus two municipalities in Viken (county), Viken county) in Norway. The list is divided into several sections ...

(

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 Hamar The Diocese of Hamar ( no, Hamar Bispedømme) is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner in Viken county. Administratively, the diocese is divided ...

. 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 1952 using plans drawn up by the

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 ...

Magnus Poulsson. The church seats about 450 people. The church has a cemetery with a memorial to British soldiers that were killed in an engagement at the site in 1940.

History

The first church at Kvam 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 likely built in the 13th century. This church was located along the river

Gudbrandsdalslågen The Gudbrandsdalslågen (or simply ''Lågen'') is a river which flows through the Gudbrandsdal valley in Innlandet county, Norway. The long river runs through a large valley in Eastern Norway before emptying into Mjøsa, the largest lake in Norw ...

at Vik, about to the east of the present church site. Not much is known of the old stave church. Its exact location is unknown; however, it is likely that the current road and railway line runs over the church site because coffins were found during the excavation and construction of both. By the mid-1700s, it was clear the church site needed to be moved. The land surrounding the church was wet and soft due to its proximity to the river and this made for problematic graveyard conditions at the church. In 1775, the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

granted permission to build a new church at below the Røssum farm, about west of the old church site. The new site was in the central part of the growning village of Kvam rather than outside the village. The parish hired Per Korpberget to be the lead builder for the new church. The new building was a

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 ...

building with a high vaulted ceiling. The new church had room for about 300 people (with a fairly similar design to the present church building). The new 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 ...

on 28 August 1778. After the new church was completed, the old church was torn down. In 1938, a burial chapel was constructed near the church along the cemetery. The chapel was built using money that was a gift from Petra Sletten (who is buried in the cemetery). This new chapel was

on 12 August 1938. By the 20th century, the church needed renovation. The tower was leaning, the floor had to be replaced, the benches were not good, and other issues. During the late-1930s, plans were drawn up to renovate the church. Funds were allocated in the winter of 1940, but

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

disrupted their plans and things were put on hold. On the evening of 26 April 1940, the church caught fire, presumably by a German grenade during some fighting between the German and British forces. The church burned to the ground along with all its interior furnishings. About 100 buildings in the village were damaged by the fire. The small burial chapel at the church survived the fire. All that remains of the old church is a small church bell, the spire, and a door. Soon after the war ended in 1945, plans were made to rebuild a church in Kvam. The new church was designed by Magnus Poulsson and Anders Haverstad was hired as the lead builder. The new church was designed to be very similar to the previous wooden

building that burned down, except that its orientation was changed so that the choir is on the north end of the building and the main entrance is along the main road. The church was completed in 1952 and

on 12 October 1952. It was decorated with carvings by Edvard Bakkom, Mathias Fjerdingren, and Anders Johnsgard, and the decorative painting was done by Arve Hagen.

Media gallery

Churche in Kvam.jpg Kvam kyrkje.jpg Nord-Fron Kvam kirke rk 84854 IMG 1405.JPG Kvam church, Nord-Fron, Norway (with graveyard).jpg Vik kirkested Kvam.jpg, Sign marking the site of the medieval church and cemetery

References

External links

Kvam Church at the Church of Norway website

Photo of the old church in 1936, National Library of Norway
{{use dmy dates, date=December 2021 Nord-Fron Churches in Innlandet Cruciform churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1952 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links