Randabygd Church ( no, Randabygd 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 ...

Stryn Municipality Stryn is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Stryn. The municipality is located along the innermost part of th ...

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

Randabygda Randabygda or Hopland is a village in Stryn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the northern shore of the Nordfjorden on a rather steep sloping area along the fjord. The village lies about east of the village of L ...

. It is the church for the Randabygd

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

Nordfjord prosti Nordfjord ( en, Northern fjord—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district of Norway. Geography The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises the mun ...

(

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 brown, 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 in 1916 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 ...

Jens Sølvberg from

Bryggja Bryggja is a village in southwestern part of Stad Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the mainland, along the northern shore of the Nordfjorden. The village is located about east of the urban areas of Måløy– Dekn ...

. The church seats about 240 people.

History

The residents of the Randabygda area had a long journey across a large fjord to attend their parish church,

Utvik Church Utvik is a village in Stryn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the southern shore of the Nordfjorden. The village lies about southwest of the village of Innvik and about north of the village of Byrkjelo (in Gl ...

. The local people wanted the

moved about to the northwest of the church to the village of Tisam. This would make the church more centrally located within the parish. These demands were rejected repeatedly by the parish for a number of years. Then in 1910, approval for a cemetery in Randabygda were approved. Not long afterwards, approval for the construction of an

annex chapel A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...

was finally given. The architect Jens Sølvberg was hired to design the building and Rasmus Olsen Gald was hired as the lead builder for the project. Construction of the church took place in 1915-1916. The church is a wooden

with a

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

on the west end with a tower above it. The

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

is located on the east end of 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 ...

. There is a

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

on the north side of the choir. The church 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 29 August 1916 by the Bishop

Peter Hognestad Peter Hognestad (12 November 1866 – 1 September 1931) was a Norwegian Lutheran bishop, theologian, writer, and translator. Hognestad was from Jæren in Norway and he served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Bjørgvin from 1916 until his deat ...

. It originally was an

in the

parish. In 1967, it became an annex chapel under the

Hornindal Church Hornindal Church ( no, Hornindal kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in the municipality of Volda in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the village of Grodås, at the eastern end of the lake Hornindalsvatnet. It is ...

parish. Also that year, the church had electric heating installed and part of the basement was rebuilt as bathrooms. On 1 January 1981, it was upgraded to full

status and it was renamed ''Randabygd Church''.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=August 2021 Stryn Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1916 1916 establishments in Norway

History

See also

References