Odda Church ( no, Odda 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 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 ...

in Ullensvang Municipality 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 t ...

. It is located in the town of Odda. It is the church for the Odda

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

Hardanger og Voss prosti Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord and its inner branches of the Sørfjorden and the Eid Fjord. It consists of the municipalities of Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik and Kvam, and is l ...

(

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 off-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 ...

design in 1870 using plans drawn up 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 ...

C. Erichsen. The church seats about 500 people.

History

The first church in

Odda Odda () is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1913 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county. It was located in southeastern Hordaland c ...

was a stone church that was located about the northeast of the present church site. That first church was built between the years 1250 and 1300. There may have been a wooden church on the site before that time, but that is not known. The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1309, but was not new that year. The stone church 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 ...

that measured about and a narrower, rectangular

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 ...

that measured about . There was also a wooden church porch on the west end of the nave. During the 1850s and 1860s, there was quite a local discussion about whether to expand the old church or to tear it down and build a new church. In 1869, the six-century old church was torn down. A new wooden

was built about to the southwest soon after the demolition of the old church. The stone from the old church was used as the foundation for the new church. The new church was designed by the architect C. Erichsen, based on the similar design for the nearby

Øystese Church Øystese Church ( no, Øystese kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Kvam Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Øystese. It is the church for the Øystese parish which is part of the Hardanger og ...

. The lead builder for the church was Askjel Aase. 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 4 November 1870 by the Bishop Peter Hersleb Graah Birkeland. By the early 20th century, the graveyard surrounding the church was getting full, so a new cemetery site was chosen in 1930, at Berjaflot about to the south. A small chapel was built at the cemetery in 1934, called Berjaflot Chapel. In 1955, the church was renovated extensively using designs by the architect Torgeir Alvsaker. The restoration also included an addition to the north 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. Ove ...

in addition to new wall panelling, new windows, and new paint.

Media gallery

File:Odda church.jpg, Exterior view Odda kyrkje.jpg, Aerial view File:Odda kirke i.jpg, Interior view File:Odda orgel.jpg, View of the back balcony and organ File:Odda orgel console.jpg, Close-up of the organ Odda. oversikt sentrum kirke Grand hotel I Hotel Hardanger I - NB MS G4 0215.jpg, Exterior view (c. 1895)

References

{{use dmy dates, date=May 2020 Ullensvang Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1870 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References