Skjervøy Church ( no, Skjervøy 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 activitie ...

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 Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. ...

Skjervøy Municipality Skjervøy kommune ( sme, Skiervvá suohkan; fkv, Kieruan komuuni) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Skjervøy on the island of Skjervøya, where most of the inha ...

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform ...

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 village of Skjervøy on the island of

Skjervøya or is an island in Skjervøy Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The island lies to the east of the island of Kågen and south of the island of Laukøya. The Kvænangen fjord lies to the east of the island. The village of Skje ...

. It is the main church for the Skjervøy

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 ...

which is part of the Nord-Troms 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 reside ...

) 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 Troms� ...

. The white, wooden church was built in 1728 to replace an older church building. It is the oldest preserved wooden church in the whole diocese, so it is a protected historic site. It was designed 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 ...

Hans Michelsen in a combination of the common

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 ...

style and

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 ...

style. The church seats about 225 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1589, but the church was not new that year. Historically, the old church was located about south of the present site of the church. In 1666, the building was described as being fairly new, so the old church must have been replaced around that time. The church was described as a small church with small windows and a dark-colored exterior. The

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

missionary

Thomas von Westen Thomas von Westen (13 September 1682 – 9 April 1727) was a Norwegian Lutheran priest and missionary. He was a driving force in the Sami mission, and founded the education institution ''Seminarium Scholasticum'', the later Seminarium Lapponic ...

had a new church built here in 1728. He commissioned Hans Michelsen to build the church. The church was to serve the coastal Sami people and

Kven people Kvens (; fi, kveeni; no, kvenar, kvener; sv, kväner; se, kveanat) are a Balto-Finnic ethnic minority in Norway. They are descended from Finnish peasants and fishermen who emigrated from the northern parts of Finland and Sweden to Northern ...

inhabiting the parish, which at that time encompassed most of Northern Troms county. In that time, attending church was required and if you were absent, you could be fined. Since the parish was so large, many small cabins were built near the shoreline by the church so that people could travel to the church on Saturday, stay over night there and then attend church on Sunday. This in effect made the churchyard a major community gathering center each week. In 1750, the church was described as a low, wooden,

building with a slate roof and no tower. In 1777, a tower was added onto the building. 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 , ...

. 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.

Media gallery

Skjervøy kirke, Troms - Riksantikvaren-T443 01 0028.jpg, Skjervøy kirke, Troms - Riksantikvaren-T443 01 0029.jpg, Skjervøy kirke, Troms - Riksantikvaren-T443 01 0031.jpg, Skjervøy kirke.jpg, Skjervøy kyrkje.jpeg,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skjervoy Church Skjervøy Churches in Troms Wooden churches in Norway 18th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1728 16th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church Long churches in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References