Solvorn Church ( no, Solvorn kyrkje) 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 Luster Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of

Solvorn Solvorn is a village in Luster Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the western shore of the Lustrafjorden, the innermost part of the Sognefjorden. The village sits directly across the fjord from the village of Orne ...

. It is the church for the Solvorn parish which is part of the Sogn 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 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 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 ...

design in 1883 using plans drawn up by the architect

Waldemar Hansteen Albert Waldemar Hansteen (25 May 1857 - 4 May 1921) was a Norway, Norwegian architect. Biography Hansteen was born in Oslo, Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Supreme Court Attorney Christopher Hansteen (1822-1912) and Lagertha Ce ...

. The church seats about 300 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1340, but the church was not new at that time. The first church was likely a wooden stave church built in the early 1300s (or earlier). Not much is known about the old church. The old church was torn down around the year 1600 and it was replaced by a new timber-framed

on the same site. This new church had a nave measuring with a choir on one end. By the late-1870s, the church was too small for the parish and the nearby

Urnes Stave Church Urnes Stave Church ( no, Urnes stavkyrkje) is a 12th-century stave church at Ornes, along the Lustrafjorden in the municipality of Luster in Vestland county, Norway. The church sits on the eastern side of the fjord, directly across the fjord f ...

parish was scheduled to be closed in 1882 and merged with Solvorn Church. So it was decided to tear down the old Solvorn Church and to build a new, larger one to accommodate the newly enlarged parish. The new church was located on the other side of the church graveyard from where the older churches were located. The new building was designed by

and the lead builder was Dr. Wulfsberg, the uncle of Waldemar Hansteen. The new church has a notable tower with sloping sides. The new church was completed and

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 in 1883. After the new church was completed, the old church was torn down and its materials were sold at auction.

Media gallery

Solvorn kyrkje.jpg, Present church Solvorn gml kirke fra bygdebok.jpg, Drawing of the old church (1600-1883)

References

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2021 Luster, Norway Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1883 14th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References