Otterøy Church ( no, Otterøy 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

Namsos ( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Kl ...

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. It is located in the village of Skomsvoll on the island of

Otterøya Otterøya is an island in the municipality of Namsos in Trøndelag county, Norway. The island is the largest island in the northern part of Trøndelag county. Otterøya sits just to the northwest of the town of Namsos on the north side of the ...

. It is the church for the Otterøy

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 Namdal 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 an

octagonal In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, w ...

shape with a style reminiscent of the old

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 ...

es. The building was constructed in 1858 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 ...

Christian Heinrich Grosch Christian Heinrich Grosch (21 January 1801 – 4 May 1865) was a Norwegian architect. He was a dominant figure in Norwegian architecture in the first half of the 1800s. Biography Christian Heinrich Grosch was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. ...

. The church seats about 350 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1520, but the church was likely built in the early 1200s. The first church building was a probably a

and it was located at Vik, about southwest of the present church site. Historically, the church was known as Vik Church until 1912 when it was renamed Otterøy Church. During the 1600s, the old church was torn down and replaced with a

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

long church on the same site. 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. In 1858, a new church was built about to the northeast of the old church site. The last

worship service A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sa ...

in the old church was held on 19 September 1858 and then on 29 September 1858 the new church was consecrated. Soon afterwards, the old church was torn down.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otteroy Church Namsos Churches in Trøndelag Octagonal churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1858 13th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church

History

See also

References