Mo Church ( no, Mo kirke) is one of the five existing Y-shaped churches in Norway. It 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 ...

Surnadal Municipality Surnadal () is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Skei. Other villages in Surnadal include Glærem, Mo, Stangvik, Surnadalsøra, Sylte, Todalsøra, ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is 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 Mo in the upper Surnadalen valley. It is the church for the Mo

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

Indre Nordmøre prosti Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administra ...

(

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 Møre The Diocese of Møre ( no, Møre bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway which geographically consists of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Its bishop is seated at the Molde Cathedral which is located in the county administrative center ...

. The red, wooden church was built in the rare Y-shaped design in 1728 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 ...

Erik Jakobsen Holten. The church seats about 205 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1589, but it was not new that year. The first church at Mo was a stave church that was located on the same site as the present-day church. The church was possibly founded in the 13th century. Possible burial mounds from the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

dating back to around the year 1000 are located near the church. In 1648, the old church received an addition to the north, changing it from 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 to half of 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 with a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

on the north side 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 ...

. A few years after that, a new church porch was added as well. In 1703, a new

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

was built on the east side of the building. In 1727, the building was deemed to be in dire need of replacement. It was torn down that year and replaced with a new church on the same site in 1728. The new church was built in a unique Y-shaped design in 1728. It has a church porch on the southwest end, a

in the east, and a baptismal sacristy in the northwest. The church was designed by Erik Jakobsen Holten from Bøverdalen. As a Y-shaped church, there are three wings. 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 ...

and sacristy are in the east wing and the two western wings were for seating. Of the two western wings, the northern one was originally seating for females (and the baptismal sacristy is attached to that wind) and the southern one was seating for men and the church porch was at the end of that wing. There is a central tower above the intersection of the three wings. 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 ...

is from 1685 and was transferred from the stave church, without the artist's name being known.

Media gallery

Y-kirke MoSurnadal.jpg Mo kirke i Surnadal.jpg Mo kyrkje Surnadal.jpg FV6150 Mo kirke.jpg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mo Church (More og Romsdal) Surnadal Churches in Møre og Romsdal Y-shaped churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 18th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1728 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References