Old Årdal Church ( no, Årdal gamle kirke) is a historic

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 ...

Hjelmeland Municipality is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Ryfylke. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hjelmelandsvågen. Other villages in the municipality include Fister, Årdal, ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

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 Årdal. It used to be the church for the Årdal

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 ...

(but now it is rarely used) which is part of the Ryfylke 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 Stavanger The Diocese of Stavanger ( no, Stavanger bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Li ...

. The red, 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 1620 using designs 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 175 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1308, but the stave church was likely built during the 13th century. The church was torn down in 1619 and a new church was built on the same site. 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 in 1620. The new building was constructed using some of the reused materials from the previous church on the same general site. Part of the foundation under the southwest corner of the church was the same foundation for the medieval stave church. The church served this area from its completion date in 1620 until 1919 when the new Årdal Church was completed about to the southwest. Since that time, the old church has no longer been used regularly, but it has been used for special occasions such as weddings and concerts. There are still two regularly scheduled

worship service A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adorat ...

s held at the church each year, one service on

Olsok Olsok ("Olaf's Wake" or "Olaf's Vigil") is a national day of celebration on July 29 in the Nordic countries of Norway and the Faroe Islands, and also in the provinces of Härjedalen in Sweden and Savonlinna in Finland. Background King Olaf II H ...

and one other Sunday morning in the summer. The interior of the church is decorated with hand-painted

rosemåling Rose-painting, , or is a Scandinavian decorative folk painting that flourished from the 1700s to the mid-19th century, particularly in Norway. In Sweden, rose-painting began to be called , c. 1901, for the region where it had been most popular ...

Media gallery

Årdal gamle kirke1.jpg, Exterior view Ardal innenraum.jpg, Interior view Ardal Taufbecken.jpg, Baptismal font Ardal Tuerschloss.jpg, Door lock

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Aardal Church Hjelmeland Churches in Rogaland Wooden churches in Norway 17th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1620 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References