Moe Church ( no, Moe 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 ...

Orkland Orkland is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Orkdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Orkang ...

municipality in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

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

Vormstad Vormstad is a village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located along the Orkla River between the villages of Svorkmo and Fannrem. The village of Hoston lies about west of Vormstad. The village of Vorms ...

, about south of the town of

Orkanger Orkanger is a town and the administrative centre of Orkland municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The town is also a former municipality which existed from 1920 until 1963. The town sits at the end of the Orkdal Fjord, an arm of the Trondhe ...

. It is the church for the Orkland

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

Orkdal prosti This list of churches in Nidaros is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Nidaros which covers all of Trøndelag county in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each deanery in the diocese. Administrati ...

(

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 Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

. The white, wooden church was built in 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 ...

style in 1867 by the builder Ole Fredriksen Rømmesmo. The church seats about 310 people.

History

The original chapel in Orkland was built in 1675 in the nearby village of

Svorkmo Svorkmo is a village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is situated in the Orkdalen valley along the river Orkla about west-southwest of the city of Trondheim. Svorkmo is located about south of the village of Vormsta ...

where many people worked at a smelting factory. It was a

building with tower on the roof with a

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 ...

on the west end. On 3 June 1816, there was a river flood which swept through the area along the river where the cemetery and church were located. The church was heavily damaged and not much of the interior furniture was able to be saved. The church was torn down and its materials were used for flood protection in Svorkmo. A new church was constructed on the nearby Smedshaugen farm about northeast of the old church site (on higher ground, further away from the river). The new church was a small,

octagonal In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

church. Eventually, the smelter in Svorkmo was closed down and the church was too small for the parish, so despite its young age, the church was closed and torn down in 1866. Soon after, a new church was constructed at Moe on the south side of

, about north of Smedshaugen. The new site was more easily accessible for the people of the parish. After some delays, the construction began in 1866 and the 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 28 December 1867 by bishop Andreas Grimelund. The church was extensively repaired under the leadership of

John Tverdahl John Egil Tverdahl (1890 in Trondheim – 1969) was a Norwegian architect. Tverdahl designed many churches as well as led the restoration of several churches that were located in Nordmøre, Trøndelag, and Nordland in northern Norway. Tverdahl w ...

in 1958–1959.

Media gallery

Moe kirke 2012.jpg, Moe kirke.jpg, Moe Kirke Orkedalen.jpg, postcard c1910

References

{{use dmy dates, date=June 2021 Orkland Churches in Trøndelag Cruciform churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1867 1675 establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References