Nordreisa Church ( no, Nordreisa 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 ...

Nordreisa Municipality Nordreisa ( se, Ráisa ; fkv, Raisi) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Storslett. Other villages include Oksfjordhamn, Sørkjosen, and Rotsund. The municipali ...

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...

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

Storslett Storslett is the administrative centre of Nordreisa Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located at the southern end of the Reisafjorden along the mouth of the river Reisaelva. The village has a population (2017) ...

. It is one of the two churches for the Nordreisa

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 Nord-Troms 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 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 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 1856 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 ...

Christian Heinrich Grosch Christian Heinrich Grosch (21 January 1801 – 4 May 1865) was a Norwegian architect. He was a dominant figure in Norwegian architecture in the first half of the 1800s. Biography Christian Heinrich Grosch was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. H ...

. The church seats about 350 people.

History

Construction was approved for the church around 1850 and the architect

sent the architectural drawings to the parish leaders on 9 August 1852 for the new church. The building 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 8 October 1856 by the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Knud Gislesen Knud Gislesen ( 29 December 1801—20 May 1860) was a Norwegian teacher, clergyman and author. He served as Bishop of the Tromsø from 1856 until his death in 1860. Biography Gislesen was born at Løxlie in the parish of Hjartdal in Telemark, ...

. During the last winter of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(1944–1945), the church was used as a residence for German soldiers, and the service building nearby was used as a horse stable. The church was spared during the burning of

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

and Northern

Troms Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...

by the retreating German Army in 1945, but much of the church inventory disappeared during this period. A few years after the war a baptismal bowl from 1856 was found in a pile of horse manure. It was cleaned up and returned to the church.

Media gallery

Nordreisa kirke 2.JPG, Alter Nordreisa kirke.jpg, Døpefont Nordreisa.jpg, Klokke på utsilling.jpg, Nordreisa kirke inni.jpg, Orgel Nordreisa.jpg, Prekestol Nordreisa.jpg,

References

{{use dmy dates, date=February 2021 Churches in Troms Nordreisa Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1856 1856 establishments in Norway Long churches in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References