Steigen Church ( no, Steigen 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 ...

Steigen Municipality Steigen ('stejgen) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Leinesfjord. Other villages include Bogen, Leines, Nordfold, ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

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 small village of Steigen on the southwestern side of the island of

Engeløya Engeløya is an island in the northern part of Steigen Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island has an area of . The highest point on the island is the Trohornet mountain. The rocky, mountainous island has grassy slopes that are fer ...

. It is the main church for the Steigen

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

Salten prosti Salten is a traditional district in Nordland county, Norway. It includes the municipalities of Meløy, Gildeskål, Bodø, Beiarn, Saltdal, Fauske, Sørfold, Steigen, and Hamarøy. Salten covers an area of about and has a population (2016) o ...

(

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 Sør-Hålogaland Sør-Hålogaland is a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covers the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within Nordland county in Norway. The diocese is headquartered in the town of Bodø at Bodø Cathedral, the seat of the pres ...

. The brown and gray, stone church was originally 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 ...

style around the year 1250, and it has since been renovated and expanded several times. The church seats about 400 people.

History

The earliest existing records of the church at Steigen date back to 1432, however there are records of the priest of Steigen dating back to 1321. The church building was likely built around the year 1250 based on archaeological excavations around the building. There is evidence that there was an earlier wooden church on the same site as well as a Christian graveyard under what is now the site of the church. This first church was likely built during the 11th century. The present stone church was originally rectangular measuring about . In 1868-1869, the church was expanded. The western part of the church was torn down and rebuilt in the

style. The remaining eastern half of the old building was converted into the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and a new

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 ...

and tower was built on the west end of the old building.

Tombs

Underneath the church, there is a large basement

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

that was historically used for the local upper classes and priests and their families. There are about 300 people buried underneath Steigen Church. There is a stairway by the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

in the front of the church that leads down to the tomb. In 1805, there was a ban on burying people inside of a church, so the remains under the church are all very old. Only some of the remains are inside a coffin, and only eight of the remains have nameplates by them.

Media gallery

Steigen kirke, Steigen kommune, Nordland.jpg, Steigen kirke.jpg, Steigen kyrkje.jpg,

References

{{use dmy dates, date=March 2021 Steigen Churches in Nordland Stone churches in Norway 13th-century churches in Norway Churches completed in 1250 11th-century establishments in Norway Long churches in Norway

History

Tombs

Media gallery

See also

References