Neiden Chapel ( no, Neiden kapell) 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 in

Sør-Varanger Municipality Sør-Varanger ( sme, Máttá-Várjjat, fkv, Etelä-Varenki, fi, Etelä-Varanki, russian: Сёр-Вара́нгер/Syor-Varánger) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town ...

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. ...

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 the ...

. It is located in the village of Neiden. It is one of the churches for the Sør-Varanger

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 o ...

which is part of the Varanger prosti ( deanery) in the

Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland ( no, Nord-Hålogaland bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms og Finnmark county as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Trom ...

. The red and white, wooden church was built in a long church format in the style called ''

dragestil Dragestil ("Dragon Style") is a style of design and architecture that originated in Norway and was widely used principally between 1880 and 1910. It is a variant of the more embracing National Romantic style and an expression of Romantic nationali ...

'' in 1902 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 ...

Karl Norum Karl Martin Norum (1852—1911) was a Norwegian architect, best known for his many church buildings, as well as contributions to the reconstruction after the fire in the city of Ålesund in 1904. Norum is well known for his Art Nouveau and ...

. The church seats about 155 people.

History

In 1898, many farmers in Neiden made a request to the Ministry of Church and Education to have a church and a cemetery built in Neiden. Only four years later, the church was finished. The residents' desire to have a church coincided with the government's desire to secure the border from Finnish-Russian expansion, and a Norwegian church near the border would help. Architect Karl Norum was very keen on old Norwegian

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 ar ...

es, and he created a

building that would be an expression of Norwegian culture and national cohesion in a border area. The chapel had 155 seats and it cost at that time. The chapel was consecrated on 13 July 1902.

Russian Orthodox chapel

There is also a Russian Orthodox chapel located nearby in Neiden, built in the 16th century as a part of Russian Christianisation of the Skolt samis who were the inhabitants of the area at that time.

Media gallery

Neiden chapel 2016 1.jpg, Neiden chapel 2016 2.jpg, Neiden chapel 2016 4.jpg, Neiden chapel 2016 5.jpg, Neiden kirke i Sør-Varanger inngangsparti.JPG, Neiden kirke i Sør-Varanger NV.JPG, Neiden kirke i Sør-Varanger NØ.JPG, Neiden kirke i Sør-Varanger Ø.JPG, Neiden chapel interior 2016 1.jpg, Neiden chapel interior 2016 2.jpg, Neiden chapel interior 2016 3.jpg, Neiden chapel interior 2016 4.jpg,

References

{{use dmy dates, date=February 2021 Sør-Varanger Churches in Finnmark Wooden churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1902 1902 establishments in Norway Long churches in Norway

History

Russian Orthodox chapel

Media gallery

See also

References