Nøstvik Church or Velfjord Church ( no, Nøstvik kirke / Velfjord 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 in

Brønnøy Municipality Brønnøy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland region. The administrative centre and commercial centre of the municipality is the town of Brønnøysund. A secondary centre is the village of Hommelstø. ...

in Nordland 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

Hommelstø Hommelstø is a village in the municipality of Brønnøy in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located on the shore of an arm of the Velfjorden about southeast of the town of Brønnøysund and about north of the village of Lande. The v ...

in the

Velfjord Velfjord is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1875 until its dissolution in 1964. Velfjord municipality was centered around the Velfjorden in what is now Brønnøy Municipality. Most of the muni ...

area of the municipality. It is the main church for the ''Velfjord og Tosen''

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

Sør-Helgeland prosti Helgeland is the most southerly district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. It is bordered in the north by the Saltfjellet mountains and Svart ...

( deanery) in the

Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland Sør-Hålogaland is a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covers the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within Nordland county in Norway. The diocese is headquartered in the town of Bodø at Bodø Cathedral, the seat of the ...

. The red, 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 describe ...

style in 1674. The church seats about 270 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1589, but the church was not new that year. The first church on this site was a

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 ...

that may have been built in the 14th century. In 1674, the small church was torn down and in its place, a new church was built. The new building was a

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 woode ...

church with narrow transverse arms on each side of the nave and a narrower

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

in the east. At the east end of the

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. Ov ...

there is a sacristy and at the west end of the nave there is a tower on the roof.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nostvik Church Brønnøy Churches in Nordland Wooden churches in Norway Cruciform churches in Norway 17th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1674 14th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References