Ringsaker Church ( no, Ringsaker 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 ...

Ringsaker Municipality is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hedemarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Brumunddal. Other settlements in Ringsaker include the town of Moelv and the vi ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

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

Moelv Moelv is a town in Ringsaker Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is located along the shores of the lake Mjøsa, about south of the town of Lillehammer and about the same distance northwest of the town of Hamar. Moelv is the seco ...

. It is the church for the Ringsaker

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

Ringsaker prosti The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar which includes all of Innlandet county (plus two municipalities in Viken county) in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each ...

(

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 Hamar The Diocese of Hamar ( no, Hamar Bispedømme) is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner in Viken county. Administratively, the diocese is divided ...

. The white, stone church was built in a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

design around the year 1150 using plans drawn up by an unknown

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 ...

. The church seats about 300 people.

History

The church in Ringsaker was built in the 12th century, possibly around the year 1150 or a little earlier. The Romanesque stone church originally had 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 with a small

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 ...

and a large tower above the centre of the nave (the tower did not have a tall spire, however). In the late 1200s, the church was expanded and given a lot of

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

features. The choir was enlarged to the east and 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 ...

was expanded by adding

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

wings to the north and south, creating a

floor plan. Interestingly, the north wing is longer than the south wing. A large

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 ...

was built on the north side of the choir. In 1594, a man named Matz Tårnbygger built a spire on top of the stone tower. In 1652,

Werner Olsen Werner Olsen ( 1600 – 1682) was a Norwegian church builder and a tower builder with a legendary reputation. He is also known as Werner Olsen Skurdal in reference to the last residence he lived at. Life Olsen was born in Ringsaker. He lived durin ...

, the famous builder, constructed a new tower and spire. On 22 September 1669, the tower blew down in a storm. The church sat without a spire for many years until 1694 when Oluf Iversen Helmen built a new tall spire. 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 th ...

which wrote the

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

. 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 E ...

later that year.

Media gallery

Ringsaker kirke 66209 F09.jpg Ringsaker kirke 66208 F08.jpg The Ringsaker church -ringsaker -norway -photo -architecture (5461068542).jpg Ringsaker kirke 66300.jpg Ringsaker, Norway - panoramio (1).jpg Ringsaker kirke - no-nb digifoto 20150206 00054 NB MIT FNR 15888.jpg RINGSAKER KIRKE - an10071202154016.jpg Skipet i Ringsaker kirke.JPG Ringsaker kirke 66205 F05.jpg Ringsaker kirkes indre.jpg Alteret i Ringsaker kirke.JPG Dåpshus fra Ringsaker NF.1941-0148.jpg 11584 Ringsaker - Interiør fra den ca 900 år gamle kirke - no-nb digifoto 20150812 00059 bldsa PK26216 (cropped).jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2022 Churches in Ringsaker Churches in Innlandet Cruciform churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 12th-century churches in Norway 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church

History

Media gallery

See also

References