Edvard Munch - Telthusbakken with Gamle Aker Church (1880)

Old Aker Church ( no, Gamle Aker kirke) is a medieval era church located in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway. An active parish, the church is the oldest existing building in Oslo. The church is surrounded by Old Aker Cemetery.

History

Old Aker Church was built as a three-naved Romanesque style basilica and constructed from

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. It is believed to have been erected by King Olav Kyrre in 1080 as a church for all of

Vingulmark Vingulmark (Old Norse ''Vingulmörk'') is the old name for the area in Norway which today makes up the counties of Østfold, western parts of Akershus (excluding Romerike), and eastern parts of Buskerud (Hurum and Røyken municipalities), and inclu ...

, the historic area surrounding Oslo. The grounds of Old Aker Church were originally likely the former site of the regional

thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuse ...

during the pre-Christian period. The oldest part of the surrounding churchyard dates back to the 12th century. The church has been pillaged and ravaged by fire several times. After a lightning strike and fire during 1703, the tower and church bells as well as the entire inventory were destroyed. The exterior was restored by architects

Heinrich Ernst Schirmer Heinrich Ernst Schirmer (27 August 1814 – 6 December 1887) was a German-born architect most noted for his work in Norway. Schirmer worked in Norway from 1838 to 1883 and left his mark on a number of public buildings. He contributed significant ...

and

Wilhelm von Hanno Andreas Friedrich Wilhelm von Hanno (15 December 1826 – 12 December 1882) was a German-born Norwegian architect, sculptor and painter. He was among the leading architects in Norway during the middle of the 1800s. Biography Wilhelm von Hanno ...

in 1861. Interior restoration during the period 1950-1955 included removal of plaster on brick walls and restoration of the Baroque style furnishings. The church sits on top of Telthusbakken and is located centrally in the borough of St. Hanshaugen. It is surrounded by an old graveyard and a stone wall. The church has a

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

pulpit and baptismal font from 1715. The tower is built in 1861. Most of the buildings in the area are from the 1880s, with the addition of some apartment blocks from the 1930s.

Gustav Jensen Gustav Margerth Jensen (July 13, 1845 – November 2, 1922) was a Norwegian priest, hymnologist, hymnwriter, seminary instructor, and liturgist. He is best known for his liturgy revision and hymnal publication. Gustav Jensen was born in Drammen, ...

was appointed a curate at the church in 1874. Knud Karl Krogh-Tonning was parish priest at the church from 1886 to 1900. The church was built over the former site of the Akerberg mines (''Akersberg gruve''), an ancient

silver mine Silver mining is the extraction of silver from minerals, starting with mining. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires elaborate technologies. In 2008, ca.25,900 metric tons were consumed ...

which was in use since the early

Viking era The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

. The mines are mentioned in the 1170 ''

Historia Norvegiae Historia may refer to: * Historia, the local version of the History channel in Spain and Portugal * Historia (TV channel), a Canadian French language specialty channel * Historia (newspaper), a French monthly newspaper devoted to History topics * ...

''. The existence of these former mines must have been the inspiration for a number of local stories about the church having hidden silver treasures and even dungeons with dragons. With the occupation of

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 ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

during the

Second World War 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 ...

in April 1940, King

Haakon VII Haakon VII (; born Prince Carl of Denmark; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957. Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen as the son of the future Frederick ...

and his family left for England on the British cruiser , not knowing when or even if they would return. On 19 April 1940, the coffin of the king's late wife

Queen Maud of Norway Maud of Wales (Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria; 26 November 1869 – 20 November 1938) was the Queen of Norway as the wife of King Haakon VII. The youngest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, she was known as P ...

, who had died unexpectedly in London in 1938, was moved in secret to Old Aker Church, on the instructions of Eivind Josef Berggrav,

Bishop of Oslo Oslo bishopric is the Church of Norway's bishopric for the municipalities of Oslo, Asker and Bærum. It is one of Norway's five traditional bishoprics and was founded around the year 1070. History Oslo was established as a diocese in 1068. It w ...

and Primate of the Church of Norway, and

Hofmarschall The ''Hofmarschall'' (plural: Hofmarschälle) was the administrative official in charge of a princely German court, supervising all its economic affairs. Historically, every civil service was regarded as court service (e.g. the Russian nobility is ...

Peter Broch. Her body was left undiscovered in the crypt, covered in a hidden tomb, until 1949, when her remains were finally interred in the Royal Mausoleum at

Akershus Castle Akershus Fortress ( no, Akershus Festning, ) or Akershus Castle ( no, Akershus slott ) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress ...

Old Aker Cemetery

Old Aker Cemetery ( no, Gamle Aker kirkegård) is the cemetery of Old Aker Church. Like the church, the cemetery dates back to the Middle Ages. The cemetery is located adjacent to the newer

Cemetery of Our Saviour The Cemetery of Our Saviour ( no, Vår Frelsers gravlund) is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great ...

, which was established in 1808. Several notable people are interred in the cemetery.''Her hviler: kjente personer på kirkegårdene i Oslo sentrum'', pp. 132–141

Notable interments

Georg von Bertouch Georg von Bertouch (also ''Bertuch''; 19 June 1668 – 14 September 1743) was a German-born Baroque composer and military officer who dwelt during most of his adult life in Norway. Biography Bertouch was born at Helmershausen in Franconia as ''G ...

, military officer * John Collett (1758–1810), businessman *

Ole Georg Gjøsteen Ole Georg Gjøsteen (9 February 1854 – 19 June 1936) was a Norwegian educator and politician for the Norwegian Labour Party. Personal life He was born in Stord, and was the older brother of politician and educationalist Johan David Haslund Gj� ...

, politician * Enevold de Falsen, statesman *

Hans Nielsen Hauge Hans Nielsen Hauge (3 April 1771 – 29 March 1824) was a 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran lay minister, spiritual leader, business entrepreneur, social reformer and author. He led a noted Pietism revival known as the Haugean movement. Hauge is als ...

, lay preacher * Christopher Hansteen, astronomer *

Lars Holst Lars Kristian Holst (22 November 1848 – 31 May 1915) was a Norwegian journalist, newspaper editor and politician. Biography Holst was born in Bergen, Norway. He was the son of shipmaster Søren Dalholt Holst (1811–84) and Catharina Krohn (18 ...

, politician * Christian C.A. Lange, historian * Adolf Schirmer, architect *

Herman Major Schirmer Herman Major Schirmer (20 June 1845 – 11 April 1913) was a Norwegian architect, educator and historian of art. He has been described as "one of the chief ideologues" of Norwegian romantic nationalism. He was also a diligent writer and Norway's fi ...

, architect *

Jørgen Herman Vogt Jørgen Herman Vogt (21 July 1784 – 12 January 1862) was a Norwegian politician who served as First Minister of Norway from 1856 to 1858, during the personal union between Sweden and Norway. The first minister was subordinated to the gover ...

, statesman *

Benjamin Wegner Jacob Benjamin Wegner (21 February 1795 – 9 June 1864) was a Norwegian business magnate, estate owner and timber merchant. Born in Königsberg, East Prussia, he moved to London in 1819 and to Berlin in 1820, where he established an independ ...

, industrialist *

Henriette Wegner Henriette Wegner (born 1 October 1805 in Hamburg, died 25 November 1875 in Christiania), née Henriette Seyler, was a Norwegian businesswoman and philanthropist, a member of the Hanseatic Berenberg banking dynasty of Hamburg and the wife of the ...

, businesswoman, co-owner of Berenberg Bank

Gallery

File:Gamle Aker Kirke.jpg, Gamle Aker kirke tower File:GamleAkerKirke pulpit.JPG, Gamle Aker kirke pulpit File:Gamle Aker, Apside.JPG, Gamle Aker kirke altar File:GamleAkerKirke 2 c.JPG, Gamle Aker kirke baptismal font File:Old Aker Church (Gamle Aker kirke) with sculpture.jpg, Gamle Aker kirke with sculpture

References

External links

Church of Norway parish website NorwegianGamle Aker kirke Historical website

Old Aker Church
{{Authority control History of Oslo Lutheran churches in Oslo Buildings and structures in Oslo Stone churches in Norway 1080 establishments in Europe 11th-century establishments in Norway Religious buildings and structures in Norway Romanesque architecture in Norway