Orkanger Church ( no, Orkanger 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 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 ...

Orkland Orkland is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Orkdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Orkang ...

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 Denmar ...

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

Orkanger Orkanger is a town and the administrative centre of Orkland municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The town is also a former municipality which existed from 1920 until 1963. The town sits at the end of the Orkdal Fjord, an arm of the Trondhei ...

, near the shore of the

Trondheimsfjorden The Trondheim Fjord or Trondheimsfjorden (), an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is Norway's third-longest fjord at long. It is located in the west-central part of the country in Trøndelag county, and it stretches from the municipality of Ørland ...

. It is the church for the Orkanger

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

Orkdal prosti This list of churches in Nidaros is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Nidaros which covers all of Trøndelag county in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each deanery in the diocese. Administrati ...

(

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 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 Herborg ...

. The white, wooden church (originally called ''Orkedalsørens kirke'') 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 ...

style in 1892 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 ...

Christian Thams Christian Thams (9 September 1867 – 22 May 1948) was a Norwegian architect, industrialist, businessman and diplomat. Thams was also a founder and major shareholder of Société du Madal, a Norwegian company which operated coconut oil plantations ...

. The church seats about 200 people.

History

Historically, the people who lived in what is now the town of

, were part of the

Orkdal Church Orkdal Church ( no, Orkdal kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Orkland municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the village of Fannrem, about south of the town of Orkanger. It is the main church for the Orkdal ...

parish. The village area was historically called . The village grew and by the 1880s, it had become more urban and it was large enough where the local residents felt they could support their own church. Meanwhile, also in the 1880s, plans were being made to tear down the nearby medieval

and build a new, larger church on the same site that would be able to support the whole parish including all the people of ''Orkedalsøren''. The residents in ''Orkedalsøren'', however began their own work towards building their own church despite the municipality's plans to build a new, larger church nearby. The village people hired

to build the new church and raised their own funds for the building in Orkedalsøren. This new church was completed in 1892 and it 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 28 April 1892 by the local Provost Brodahl. The municipality eventually agreed to take over the locally financed church and it was used for the whole parish from 1892-1893 while the nearby

was being built (that building was completed in December of 1893). After the new

was completed, that church served the majority of the land of the parish and the Orkanger Church served the people of the urban area of Orkedalsøren. In 1920, Orkedalsøren became an independent town named Orkanger and the church was renamed Orkanger Church. The original

Swiss chalet style Swiss chalet style (german: Schweizerstil, no, Sveitserstil) is an architectural style of Late Historicism, originally inspired by rural chalets in Switzerland and the Alpine (mountainous) regions of Central Europe. The style refers to traditi ...

character of the building has been somewhat lessened during restorations and renovations over the years, particularly in 1950 when the tower was rebuilt with a completely different look. Originally, the church exterior was painted brown. Later, it was painted a shade of yellow before it was painted brown again. Today's white color dates from 1991.

Media gallery

Orkanger church 2013.jpg, Exterior view (c. 2013) Orkanger kirke UBT-TO-073327 01 1.jpg, Exterior view (c. 1965) Orkanger kirke, Sør-Trøndelag - Riksantikvaren-T355 01 0015.jpg, Original exterior view (before 1950)

References

{{use dmy dates, date=July 2021 Orkland Churches in Trøndelag Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1892 1892 establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References