Lunde Church ( no, Lunde 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 ...

in the large

Sirdal Municipality Sirdal is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the northwestern part of the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tonstad. Other villages in Sirdal include Bjørnest ...

in Agder 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

Lunde Lunde may refer to: People Politics * Gulbrand Lunde (1901–1942), Norwegian councillor of state in the Nasjonal Samling government * Heidi Nordby Lunde (born 1973), Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party * Jens Lunde (1884–1974), Nor ...

in the

Øvre Sirdal Øvre Sirdal is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1905 until its dissolution in 1960. It was located in the northern part of the present-day municipality of Sirdal in A ...

area of the municipality. It one of the four churches in the Sirdal

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

Lister og Mandal prosti This list of churches in Agder og Telemark is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark in Agder and Vestfold og Telemark counties in southern Norway. The diocese is based at the Kristiansand Cathedral in the cit ...

(

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 Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark ( no, Agder og Telemark bispedømme) is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and most of Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth larges ...

. 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 1873 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 ...

Hans Linstow Hans Ditlev Franciscus (Frants) von Linstow (4 May 1787 – 10 June 1851) was a Danish/Norwegian architect who designed the Royal Palace in Oslo and much of the surrounding park and the street ''Karl Johans gate''. Background Hans Ditlev Franc ...

. The church seats about 250 people.

History

A small chapel was built at Lunde in the upper Sirdalen valley in 1819. In the 1840s, plans were discussed to replace

Tonstad Church Tonstad Church ( no, Tonstad kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in the large Sirdal Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Tonstad. It one of the four churches in the Sirdal parish which is part of th ...

and this chapel with a new, larger church in a more central location (at Hompland). These plans were ultimately rejected by the parish and instead, both churches would be rebuilt and enlarged. By a Royal Decree on 29 October 1847, Lunde chapel was approved as a parish church. Sirdal municipality was created in 1849 and it became its own

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

in 1854 with Tonstad Church designated as the main parish church and Lunde Church as an annex. The chapel building from 1819 was soon too small for the congregation, so a new church was built in 1873 (the present church). The newly reconstructed 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 1 October 1873 by the Bishop Jacob von der Lippe.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=December 2020 Sirdal Churches in Agder Wooden churches in Norway 18th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1873 1819 establishments in Norway

History

See also

References