Nordal Church ( no, Nordal kyrkje) 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
Kinn Municipality
Kinn is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020. It is in the traditional districts of Nordfjord and Sunnfjord. The municipality is the only non-contiguous municipality in Norway since the municipality of ...
in
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 the ...
. It is located in the small village of
Norddalsfjord
Norddal or Norddalsfjord is a village in Kinn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies along the Norddalsfjorden at the entrance to the Solheimsdalen valley. It sits at the mouth of the Norddalselva river on a small peninsula tha ...
, and it serves the northeastern part of the municipality. It is the church for the Nordal
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
Sunnfjord prosti
Sunnfjord ( en, the southern fjord - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland county. It includes the municipalities of Askvoll, Fjaler, the southernmost parts of Kinn, Sunnfjord, and the southern ...
(
deanery) in the
Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in a
long church design in 1898 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 ...
Jacob Wilhelm Nordan
Jacob Wilhelm Nordan (23 February 1824 – 11 April 1892) was a Danish-born, Norwegian architect. During his career, he was one of the most prolific church architects in Norway.
Biography
Nordan was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and came to Norw ...
. The church seats about 200 people.
History
The people of Norddalsfjorden had belonged to the parish of
Bru for a long time, which meant they had an extremely long and strenuous way to get to church which was located on the island of
Svanøya
Svanøy (also called Svanøyna and Brulandet) is an island in the municipality of Kinn in Vestland county, Norway. The island is located in the Sunnfjord district of the county. The island lies just to the west of the mainland, in the mouth of the ...
. From the upper parts of the Grøndalen valley down to the fjord it was a distance of which included crossing five lakes by boat. From the fjord to
Bru Church, it was another across the sea, which took about four hours by row boat (if the weather was fine). They had to go all the way to the Svanøy Church, not only for ordinary
worship service
A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sa ...
s, but also for
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
ceremonies, weddings, and funerals.
A new cemetery was consecrated in the Norddalsfjorden area on 17 November 1869. This helped the local residents, but not long after this, they began to desire their own church. In 1887, the local residents formally requested their own church, and two years after that, the decision was made to get started on the project. Fundraising began in 1889. The people in the valley had raised , and the same sum was allocated by the
Norwegian Parliament
The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...
and the municipality of
Kinn
Kinn is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020. It is in the traditional districts of Nordfjord and Sunnfjord. The municipality is the only non-contiguous municipality in Norway since the municipality of ...
. The "Kinn Sparebank" (savings bank) also donated , so the total sum raised was which was enough to cover the construction costs. The building was constructed in 1898 by the builder Anders Korsvold. The new church was
consecrated on 14 September 1898 by the local
Dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
Andreas D. Jespersen.
At first, the parish vicar was somewhat reluctant to have a new church building because this implied that he would have to travel more frequently. Furthermore, when the church was completed, he tried to confine the services to the summer months, but the parish council objected. In the first years, services were held five times a year, preferably in the winter. Nowadays services are held fourteen times a year. Electric heating was installed in the building in 1964, but it was not until 1994 that electric lighting was installed in the building. On 1 January 1998, the church was separated from Bru and formed its own parish within the municipality.
Media gallery
Nordal kyrkje (Flora kommune) 01.jpg
Nordal kyrkje (Flora kommune) 02.jpg
Nordal kyrkje (Flora kommune) 03.jpg
Norddal Valley.jpg
See also
*
List of churches in Bjørgvin
The list of churches in Bjørgvin is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Bjørgvin which includes all of Vestland county in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each deanery (; headed by a provost) in ...
References
{{use dmy dates, date=September 2021
Kinn
Churches in Vestland
Long churches in Norway
Wooden churches in Norway
19th-century Church of Norway church buildings
Churches completed in 1898
1898 establishments in Norway