Leikanger Church ( no, Leikanger 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 ...

Sogndal Municipality Sogndal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansv ...

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 t ...

. It is located in the village of

Leikanger Leikanger () is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center was the village of Hermansverk, which also was the ...

, along the northern coast of the

Sognefjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the smal ...

. It is the church for the Leikanger

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

Sogn prosti Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestra ...

(

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 Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin ( no, Bjørgvin bispedømme) is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway. The cathedral city is Bergen, Norway's second ...

. The white, stone church has a large wooden

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

. The building was constructed 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 around the year 1250 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 220 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1308, but the church was not new that year. The stone church was probably first built during the 12th century. The west portal in the church has been dated to the late-1100s. Around the year 1200, the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

was rebuilt and enlarged. The dimensions of the building after this expansion were about . (Some sources say that this rebuilding of the choir may have been a whole new church built after removing the old church.) Parts of the building have been renovated and rebuilt over the centuries. In the 1660s, the church was renovated. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

was reconstructed and the old tower was torn down and rebuilt in a

neo-gothic style 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 ...

. At the same time, the walls were repaired and an attic area was created. After this renovation, the church was said to be about . 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 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 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 E ...

later that year. In 1872, the church was heavily renovated by the

Christian Christie Eilert Christian Brodtkorb Christie (24 December 1832 – 13 September 1906) was a Norwegian architect. Personal life He was born in Bergen as a son of customs officer Werner Hosewinckel Christie (1785–1872) and Hansine Langsted (1802–1864) ...

. During this reconstruction, the entire

was torn down, the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was lengthened to the east, and then a new choir was built. Also, a new wooden

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

and tower was built on the west end. The redesigned church was

consecrate 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 ...

d on 14 November 1872 by Bishop

Peter Hersleb Graah Birkeland Peter Hersleb Graah Birkeland (14 January 1807–5 January 1896) was a Norwegian priest in the Church of Norway. He served as Bishop of the Diocese of Bjørgvin from 1864–1880. Early life and family Peter Birkeland was born in the village ...

after the extensive reconstruction. In the 1930s through the 1950s, the church was again renovated, this time under the direction of the architect Johan Lindstrøm. This included a completely rebuilt wooden tower, and a focus on bringing back the historic look of the building.

Priests

There have been many priests to serve this church since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

: * Jon Røg, 1537–1552 * Magister Erik Loss, 1550–1565 * Jens Engelsøn, 1565–1607 * Magister Hans Kruse, 1607–1617 * Hans Nilsen Arctander, 1617–1618 * Erik Iversen Nordal, 1618–1658 * Jens Bugge, 1658–1684 * Magister Samuel Bugge, 1685–1718 * Iver Iversen Leganger 1719–1750 * Gerhard Geelmuyden, 1750–1764 * Ole Bernhoft Friis, 1764–1782 * Nils Frantzsøn Wolff, 1783–1789 * Anders Daae, 1789–1819 * Nils Norman, 1816–1822 * Peter Johan Norman, 1823–1839 * Søren Wilhelm Thorne, 1840–1849 * Johan David Haslund, 1849–1869 * Iver Olaus Widerøe, 1870–1878 * Jakob Liv Rosted Sverdrup, 1878–1884 * Jakob Walnum, 1884–1896 * Fredrik Vilhelm Bull-Hansen, 1897–1923 * Sverre Daae, 1923–1945 * Nils Ruset, 1945–1950 * Sverre Daae, 1950–1960 * Einar Bjorvand, 1960–1965 * Oddmund Hjermann, 1965–1975 * Bjarne Imenes, 1975–1985 * Einar Hansen, 1986–1988 * Tore Wigen, 1989–1990 * Kjell Sæter, 1991–2007 * Egon Askvik, 2008–

Media gallery

Leikanger kirke, 2016-1.jpg Leikanger kirke, 2016-3.jpg Leikanger kyrkjestad 2012-09-22 13-33-43.jpg Leikanger kirke, Leikanger, juni 1941, Anders Beer Wilse, NF.WF 14692.jpg, Old tower (pre-1950)

References

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2021 Sogndal Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 12th-century churches in Norway 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church

History

Priests

Media gallery

See also

References