Lillehammer Church ( no, Lillehammer 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 ...

Lillehammer Municipality Lillehammer Municipality is the local government for Lillehammer, Norway. The administration is located in the town of Lillehammer. The municipality is governed by a 47-member municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a ...

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 town of Lillehammer. It is the church for the Lillehammer

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 the seat of the

Sør-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 red, brick church was built in a long church design in 1882 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 ...

Henrik Thrap-Meyer Henrik Thrap-Meyer (31 July 1833 – 29 December 1910) was a Norwegian architect. He is most associated with a wide range of significant buildings, including churches and schools. Thrap-Meyer was born in Bergen, Norway. He was the son of Jo ...

. The church seats about 650 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the 14th century, but the church was not new at that time. The first church in Lillehammer 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 during the 13th century. The church site was at the intersection between two old roads: ''Kongeveien'' and the road from the ferry over the river. A

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

was held on the land between the farm and the church. The old stave church was a modest building that was an annex church to the main

Fåberg Church Fåberg Church ( no, Fåberg kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Lillehammer Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Fåberg. It is the church for the Fåberg parish which is part of the Sør-Gud ...

. Not much is known about the church, except that it had a tower. During the 1600s, the church was repaired due to rot and decay in the structure. The church was sold by the King at the

Norwegian church auction The Norwegian church sale ( no, kirkesalget) was a comprehensive and systematic sale of most of the church properties in Norway during the 1720s. The purpose of this sale was the intention of improving the poor public finances in the Kingdom of Denm ...

in the 1720s to raise money to pay down war debts from the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...

. The church was purchased by the people of the parish. Soon after, the people of the parish decided that the old church needed to be replaced. In 1733, the old church was torn down and replaced with 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 ...

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 ...

building that was built about northeast of the site of the old stave church, in the corner of the old cemetery.

Svend Tråseth Svend Tråseth (1699—1769) was a Norwegian architect and builder in the Gudbrandsdalen and Valdres areas of Eastern Norway. At that time in Norway, spellings had not been standardized, so his last name is often spelled differently including ...

was the lead builder of the church. Some furniture items of varying ages was moved from the old stave church to the new church. This includes, among other things, the

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

from 1695 (which was also used in the next church as well and which can be seen today in the

Garmo Stave Church Garmo Stave Church () is a stave church situated at the Maihaugen museum at Lillehammer in Innlandet, Norway. Garmo Stave Church at Maihaugen is one of the most visited stave churches in Norway. Description Garmo Stave Church originally cam ...

Maihaugen Maihaugen (''De Sandvigske Samlinger på Maihaugen, Lillehammer'') is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Lillehammer, Norway. Maihaugen, with close to 200 buildings, is one of Northern Europe's largest open-air museums and is one of th ...

. 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 ...

by Bishop

Peder Hersleb Peder Hersleb (25 March 1689 – 4 April 1757) was a Norwegian-Danish clergyman and Bishop. Biography Hersleb was born in Steinkjer in Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, the son of Christopher Hersleb and Sophie Borch. He became a student at Trondhei ...

on 9 January 1733. The new church building was said to have been very similar to the existing

, which was built a few years earlier, but this church had a central tower while Fåberg has a west tower (se
painting of the old church
. It is said that this church suffered great damage when it was used as a

granary A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animal ...

in the years of distress and famine before 1814. However, the building was restored afterwards. The town of Lillehammer was established in 1827, and the church was eventually considered too small and outdated and demand for a new church arose. By the 1870s, planning was underway for a new, much larger church for the growing town of Lillehammer. A new brick long church was built alongside the old church in 1881–1882, roughly on the same site as the old stave church which was torn down in 1733. The new building was constructed in a

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 ...

style and it was designed by the architect

. The new building was

on 14 June 1882. In 1959, the church was extensively renovated. Prior to this time, the church had a neo-Gothic style, but afterwards, almost the entire interior of the church was changed. The church's original

, a copy of

Adolph Tidemand Adolph Tidemand (14 August 18148 August 1876) was a noted Norwegian romantic nationalism painter. Among his best known paintings are ''Haugianerne'' (''The Haugeans''; 1852) and '' Brudeferd i Hardanger'' (''The Bridal Procession in Hardanger'' ...

's altarpiece at Tyristrand church, was then replaced with a new, painted wooden relief by

Maja Refsum Maja Refsum (23 September 1897 – 11 January 1986) was a Norwegian sculptor and teacher. She grew up in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. She was the daughter of Harald Refsum (1866-1950) and Hanna Ovidia Yssen (1863-1944). She was the aunt of ...

with the motif of Jesus in

Gethsemane Gethsemane () is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great resona ...

. Also at this time, the exterior doors of the church were replaced. The church's interior was redone again in 2007. A new altar table was installed on a platform at the front of 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 ...

, while the choir appeared as a separate chapel. The choir's walls were dressed with monotypes by Borgny Farstad Svalastog. Also in 2007, the church was re-roofed and the old slate roof was replaced with a new one except for the tower where the slate plates were removed and copper plates were laid.

Statues

There is a statue a few stone throws from the church at Lillehammer made by Rolf Lunde. A replica has later been cast and today stands outside the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

in Oslo. On the church ramp northwest of the church, in the summer of 1937, the statue of

Dyre Vaa Dyre Vaa (19 January 1903 – 11 May 1980) was a Norwegian sculptor and painter. Background He was born in Kviteseid, Telemark, and later lived and worked in Rauland. He was the son of Tor Aanundsson Vaa (1864–1928) and Anne Marie Roholt ...

was unveiled by Lars Skrefsrud (1840-1910). Pentecost 2011, Svein-Tore Kleppan's bronze bust by organist and composer

Leif Solberg Leif Solberg (18 November 1914 – 25 January 2016) was a Norwegian classical composer and organist. He was born in Lena, Norway. After studying at the Norwegian Academy of Music he spent his professional career as the organist in Lillehammer ...

was unveiled by county mayor

Audun Tron Audun Tron (born 7 March 1945) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. From 1987 to 1999, Tron was the mayor of Lillehammer. As such he played a role in the 1994 Winter Olympics. During the first cabinet Stoltenberg, from 2000 to 2001, ...

. The monument has been given a beautiful and dignified place northwest of the church's main entrance.

Media gallery

Hafjell Resort kirke i lillehammer 2.jpg Hafjell Resort kirke i lillehammer 1.jpg Lillehammer - KMB - 16001000281364.jpg Lillehammer Church.jpg LILLEHAMMER KIRKE Norway (1882, Lutheran church, cemetery) Sol blå himmel kirkegård gravsteiner gravlund 2021-05-29 IMG 0931.jpg LILLEHAMMER KIRKE Norway (1882, Lutheran church, cemetery) Sol blå himmel kirkegård gravsteiner gravlund 2021-05-29 IMG 0922.jpg Lillehammer kirke tårn.jpg LILLEHAMMER KIRKE Norway (1882, Lutheran church, cemetery) Sol blå himmel kirkegård gravsteiner gravlund 2021-05-29 IMG 0948.jpg No-nb digibok 2012101006012 0074 1.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=December 2021 Buildings and structures in Lillehammer Churches in Sør-Gudbrandsdal Deanery Churches in Innlandet Long churches in Norway Brick churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1882 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Statues

Media gallery

See also

References