Kvinnherad Church ( no, Kvinnherad 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 in
Kvinnherad Municipality
Kvinnherad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland, along the Hardangerfjorden. The municipality was the 5th in size in former Hordaland county.
The administrative centre of the m ...
in
Vestland
Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...
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 the ...
. It is located in the village of
Rosendal. It is the church for the Rosendal
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 o ...
which is part of the
Sunnhordland prosti
Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Hardang ...
(
deanery) in the
Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, stone church was built in a
long church design in the mid-1200s 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 380 people.
History
The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1306, but it was not new at that time. The first church at Kvinnherad, was possibly a wooden
post church
Post church (Norwegian: ''stolpekirke'') is a term for a church building which predates the stave churches and differ in that the corner posts do not reside on a sill but instead have posts dug into the earth. Posts are the vertical, roof-bearin ...
that was built in the 12th century. During the middle to late 13th century, the wooden church was torn down and a new stone church was built to replace it. In 1678, the church became part of the newly established
Barony Rosendal
Barony Rosendal (Norwegian: ''Baroniet Rosendal'') is a historic estate and manor house situated in Kvinnherad in Hordaland county, Norway. The barony was built in the 17nth century by danish noblemen on the old estate of Norwegian noble Galte f ...
, where many of the
Rosenkrantz
Rosenkranz is the German word for rosary.
Rosenkranz, Rosenkrantz, Rosencrance, Rosencrans or Rosencrantz may refer to:
* Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two characters in Shakespeare's ''Hamlet''
* ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'', a 1966 ...
family are buried.
In 1814, this church served as an
election church
An election church ( no, valgkirke) is a term used for approximately 300 churches in Norway that were used as polling stations during the elections to the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. This was Norway's first national election ...
( 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 t ...
which wrote the
Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each
church 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 ...
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
Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet.
General information
...
later that year.
In 1910, the church was sold to the municipality. The building has been renovated and refurbished many times over the centuries, the most recent times were in 1913-1914 and in 1955.
Media gallery
Kvinnheradkirke03.JPG, Front of church
Rosendal Kvinnherad kyrkje.jpg, From a distance
Kvinnheradkirke06.JPG, Exterior window
Kvinnherad kirke, sidedør.jpg, Side door
Kvinnherad kyrkje interioer Wilse.jpg, Interior view
Kvinnherad kirke, kirkegården.jpg, Churchyard
See also
*
List of churches in Bjørgvin
The list of churches in Bjørgvin is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Bjørgvin which includes all of Vestland county in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each deanery (; headed by a provost) in ...
References
{{use dmy dates, date=June 2020
Kvinnherad
Churches in Vestland
Long churches in Norway
Stone churches in Norway
13th-century churches in Norway
Churches completed in the 1270s
12th-century establishments in Norway
Norwegian election church