Rafsbotn Chapel ( no, Rafsbotn kapell) is a parish church 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 ...

in Alta Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the village of

Rafsbotn or is a village in Alta Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village sits at the southeast end of the Altafjorden, along the European route E6 highway, about northeast of the town of Alta. The name comes from the Sami plac ...

. It is one of the churches for the Alta parish which is part of the

Alta prosti Alta or ALTA may refer to: Acronyms * Alt-A, short for Alternative A-paper, is a type of U.S. mortgage * American Land Title Association, a national trade association representing the land title industry * American Literary Translators Associatio ...

(

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 Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland ( no, Nord-Hålogaland bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms og Finnmark county as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø ...

. The white, 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 ...

style in 1989 using plans drawn up by the architects Arne Rasmussen and Asbjørn Nilsen. The church seats about 100 people.

History

The first chapel in Rafsbotn was built around 1920. Money was raised through raffles, bazaars, gifts and volunteer work. The house was built of timber, and it was burned by the Germans in 1944. A new chapel was completed in 1949 and it was somewhat larger. It was financed through war damages and mortgages. The

Laestadians Laestadianism, also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a pietistic Lutheran revival movement started in Sápmi in the middle of the 19th century. Named after Swedish Lutheran state church administrator and temperance ...

were the owners of the chapel. In 1988, the Alta parish took over the ownership of the chapel and at that time it was rebuilt and restored with the intention of converting it into a full church for use by the parish. This work was carried out by contractor Arne Rasmussen. On Sunday, 27 August 1989, the building 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 as a church by Bishop Arvid H. Nergård.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=February 2021 Alta, Norway Churches in Finnmark Wooden churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1989 1920 establishments in Norway Long churches in Norway

History

See also

References