Oppdal Church ( no, Oppdal 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

Oppdal is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Dovre region and the traditional district of Orkdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Oppdal. Other villages in the municipality include Lønse ...

municipality in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denma ...

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 at the Vang farm, near

Norwegian National Road 70 National Road 70 ( no, Riksvei 70) is a long national highway that runs from the town of Kristiansund in Kristiansund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and the village of Oppdal in Oppdal Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. Th ...

, just west of the village of

. It is the main church for the Oppdal

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 Gauldal prosti ( deanery) in the

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herbor ...

. The white, 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 1651 using plans drawn up by 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 ...

s Ole Jonsen Hindrum and Nils Olsen. The church seats about 450 people. The church is sometimes nicknamed ''"Marit på Vang"''.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1297, but it was not new that year. The first church at Oppdal 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 was likely built during the 12th century on the same site as the present church. It was located on the Vang farm which is now part of the village of Oppdal, so originally it was often called ''Vang Church''. The church was dedicated to St. Edmund. In 1637-1638, the church was repaired and expanded, but just over ten years later, the old church was torn down to make room for a new church on the same site. The new church was consecrated on 12 March 1651 by Bishop

Erik Bredal Erik Bredal (1608 – 18 May 1672) was a Danish-born, Norwegian Lutheranism, Lutheran Bishop. Erik Bredal was born in the town of Rudkøbing, on the island of Langeland in south-central Denmark. Bredal came from a clerical family. His fathe ...

. In 1674, a builder named Knud was hired to strengthen the foundation of the young building because the tower above the

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 ...

was too heavy for the walls to hold and the walls were beginning to buckle. Even after the strengthened foundation, the walls were still a little crooked. In 1814, this church served as an

election church An election church ( no, valgkirke) 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 election ...

( no, valgkirke). 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 (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised t ...

which wrote the Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each

church 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 ...

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 municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information ...

later that year.

Media gallery

Oppdal kirke og prestegård UBT-TO-075815 01 1.jpg, Oppdals kirke og prestegård UBT-TO-075604 01 1.jpg, Oppdal kirke.jpg, Oppdal kirke, Sør-Trøndelag - Riksantikvaren-T358 01 0240.jpg,

References

{{use dmy dates, date=June 2021 Oppdal Churches in Trøndelag Cruciform churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 17th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1651 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church

History

Media gallery

See also

References