Skodje Church ( no, Skodje 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 in

Ålesund Municipality Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, County, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centr ...

in Møre og Romsdal 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 the ...

. It is located in the village of Skodje. It is the church for the Skodje

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

Nordre Sunnmøre prosti ''Nordre'' (Northern), formerly known as ''Haramsnytt'' (The Haram News), is a local Norwegian newspaper covering events in the northern part of the municipality of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county. History The newspaper was established as ''Ha ...

( deanery) in the Diocese of Møre. The white, wooden church was built in a long church design in 1860 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 ...

Fritz Meinhardt. The church seats about 330 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1432, but the church was not new that year. The first church in Skodje was a wooden

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 ...

that may have been built in 14th century. The church was originally a long church design, but some time during the early-1600s, the church was remodeled by adding 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 ...

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 wi ...

s to the north and south sides 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 ...

which ultimately created 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 describe ...

floor plan. In 1750 the old church was in such poor condition that it was torn down and a new

church was built on the same site. In 1859 this church too was torn down, and the present church building was constructed. This new church was designed by Fritz Meinhardt and built by the builders Gjert Lien and Alias Tonning. The new church was consecrated in 1860.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=August 2021 Buildings and structures in Ålesund Churches in Møre og Romsdal Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1860 14th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References