Stolmen Church ( no, Stolmen kyrkje; historic name: ) 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 ...

Austevoll Municipality Austevoll is a municipality and an archipelago in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Midthordland in Western Norway. The administrative centre is the village of Storebø on the island of Huftarøy. Other vill ...

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 Kvalvåg on the island of

Stolmen Stolmen is an island in Austevoll municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies in a large archipelago just north of the Selbjørnsfjorden. The island of Selbjørn lies to the east, the islands of Huftarøy and Hundvåko lie to th ...

, although historically it was located on the small island of

Møkster Møkster is an island in Austevoll municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies in an archipelago and it sits north of the islands of Litla Kalsøya, Stolmen, and Selbjørn; west of the islands of Drøna and Rostøya; and south o ...

, hence the name. It is one of the five churches for the Austevoll

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 Fana prosti (

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, 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 ...

style in 1892 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 Heinrich Jess Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

. The church seats about 320 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1306, but the church was not new that year. The first Møkster Church was a wooden stave church that was located on the island of

in the central part of the Austevoll

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

. That church was likely built during the 13th century. In 1686, the old stave church was demolished and 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 ...

was built on the same site. It had a rectangular

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 ...

and a narrower, straight-ended square

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 ...

. There was also a church porch on the west end of the nave. The church building was owned by the King until 1724 when it was sold to Bent Uldrich for 70 rigsdaler. In 1860, the parish raised money and bought back the church for 5,755 speciedaler. In the 1880s, it was decided to move the church to the nearby island of

to the south where it would be more accessible to the population of the parish. In addition to this, the new Storekalsøy Chapel was built in the north part of the archipelago. The new Møkster Church was built in 1892 by builder Mons Skare from

Alversund Alversund is a village in Alver municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the mainland of the Lindås peninsula, along the shore of the Alverstraumen strait. The village sits between the villages of Alverstraumen (acr ...

and the

Hans Jess from

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. The new 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 29 June 1892. After the new church was completed, the old church was torn down. The old cemetery on Møkster island is still located on the old church site. Four stained glass windows from the 1686 church were saved and used in the present church on Stolmen. In 2020, the Diocese of Bjørgvin approved a name change for the church. Historically, the church was known as ''Møkster Church'' since it originally was located on that island, but in 1892, the church was moved to the island of Stolmen. The church continued to be known as ''Møkster Church'' since it was the church for the Møkster parish. Many years later, the parishes in Austevoll municipality were merged into one parish known as Austevoll parish. Since the name Møkster was no longer the name of the parish or the location of the church, some began pushing for a name change. On 30 September 2020, the diocese approved renaming the church ''Stolmen Church'' ( nn, Stolmen kyrkje).

References

{{use dmy dates, date=May 2020 Austevoll Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1891 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References