Ortnevik Church ( no, Ortnevik kyrkje) 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 ...

Høyanger Municipality Høyanger () is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Høyanger. Other villages in Høyanger municipality include Austreim, Bjordal, Kyrkjebø, ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

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

Ortnevik Ortnevik is a village in Høyanger Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden. The village is fairly isolated since there is only one road leading to it. Norwegian County Road 92 (Fv92) c ...

on the south shore of the

Sognefjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the smal ...

. It is one of the two churches for the ''Bjordal og Ortnevik''

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 Sunnfjord 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 Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin ( no, Bjørgvin bispedømme) is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway. The cathedral city is Bergen, Norway's second ...

. 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 and a

dragestil Dragestil ("Dragon Style") is a style of design and architecture that originated in Norway and was widely used principally between 1880 and 1910. It is a variant of the more embracing National Romantic style and an expression of Romantic nationali ...

style in 1925 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 ...

Lars Norevik, who lived in the village. The church seats about 292 people.

History

For hundreds of years, the parishioners living in Ortnevik had to boat about across the

to get to their parish church: Kyrkjebø Church. In the early 1920s, permission was given to build an annex chapel in Ortnevik for the people living in the southeast part of the municipality. The chapel was designed by Lars Norevik and the lead builder was Emil Geithus. Construction on the new chapel began during the summer of 1924. During the construction of the tower, a storm blew through the village one night and the partially constructed tower was blown off the church. It ended up in the field on the south side of the church and stood vertically in the ground as if it was planted there. Other damage to the building from the storm meant that the completion of the church was pushed back several months. The chapel was finally completed and

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 1925. The new chapel was a large building, seating nearly 300 people, far more than the residents of the village. At the time of its construction, planners thought that the area would be prime for population growth, although the opposite came true. It had the status of an annex chapel until 1 January 1997 when it was upgraded to a

. At the same time the new parish of ''Bjordal og Ortnevik'' was created with Ortnevik Church and

Bjordal Church Bjordal Church ( no, Bjordal kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Høyanger Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Bjordal. It is one of the two churches for the ''Bjordal og Ortnevik'' parish whi ...

being the two parish churches. This meant that all the people in Høyanger on the south side of the fjord now had their own parish.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=September 2021 Høyanger Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1925 1925 establishments in Norway National Romantic architecture in Norway Art Nouveau church buildings in Norway

History

See also

References