Old Søgne Church () is a historic

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

Kristiansand Municipality Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located in the southeastern part of the village of

Tangvall Tangvall is a village in Kristiansand municipality in Agder county, Norway. It was the administrative centre of the old Søgne municipality which existed until 2020. The village is located along the European route E39 highway and the river Søgnee ...

. It was once the main church for the Søgne

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

which is now part of the Kristiansand domprosti (arch-

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the 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 residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark () is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth largest city. Kristiansand Cathedral serves as the seat of t ...

. The white,

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

church was built in a

long church Church building in Norway began when Christianity in Norway, 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 inst ...

design in 1640 using plans drawn up by an unknown

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 ...

. The church seats about 270 people. The "new" Søgne Church was built about to the northwest of this location in 1861 to replace this (smaller) church. Since that time, this church is no longer regularly used, but it is available for special occasions such as baptisms and weddings.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1344, but the church was not new at that time (it was likely founded in the 13th century). In 1604, the parish of Søgne was established when it was separated from the main Oddernes Church parish. The old medieval

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 ...

in Søgne was torn down in the 1630s and a new church was completed on the same site around 1640. It was a

with 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 ...

and on the east end was a narrower

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

with a lower roof line that was constructed out of lumber. Some parts of the old stave church were re-used in the new church, including the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

. In 1743, a new

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

was built on the north side of the building. In 1760, a new tower on the west end was constructed. In 1814, this church served as an

election church An election church () is a term used for approximately 300 churches in Norway that were used as polling stations during the elections to the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. This was Norway's first national elections and this ass ...

(). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814

Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly ( or ) is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised the dissolution of the union with Denmark. The meetings took place at the Eidsvoll Manor in th ...

which wrote the

Constitution of Norway The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish language, Danish: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian Bokmål: ; Nynorsk, Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the N ...

. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...

later that year. The walls and ceilings of the interior are covered with painted

rosemåling Rose-painting, , or is a Scandinavian decorative Folk art, folk painting that flourished from the 1700s to the mid-1800s, particularly in Norway. In Sweden, rose-painting began to be called , c. 1901, for the region Dalecarlia where it had been ...

decorations of vines and figures from the 17th and 18th centuries and later. The decorations were repainted in the 19th century, first with blue-gray in 1833, and then with white around 1860. In connection with the restoration of the church from 1953 to 1957, the remains of the original decor were restored by curator Finn Krafft.

Media gallery

Soegne IMG 3631 sögne gml krk rk 85037.JPG, Front view of the church Sögne 06 søgne gml kirke 85037.jpg, Rear view of the church Sögne 02 søgne gml kirke 85037.jpg, Altar in the church Sögne 08 søgne gml kirke 85037.jpg, Interior, back of the church Sögne 09 søgne gml kirke 85037.jpg, Interior, looking to the front Sögne Old Church 85037 Apostles 17.jpg, Interior artwork Søgne gamle kirke.jpg, Historic view of the exterior Søgne gamle kirke - no-nb digifoto 20160606 00005 bldsa BB 2562.jpg, Historic view of the interior Soegne IMG 3633 sögne gml krk rk 85037.JPG, Stone marker commemorating the Søgne representative at the Eidsvold Constitutional Convention in 1814

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Sogne Church Churches in Kristiansand Wooden churches in Norway 17th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1640 13th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches

History

Media gallery

See also

References