Strøm Church ( no, Strøm 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 in

Sør-Odal Municipality Sør-Odal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skarnes. Other villages in Sør-Odal include Disenå and Sander. T ...

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 the ...

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

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

Solør, Vinger og Odal 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 d ...

( deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar. The red brick 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 describe ...

design in 1857 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 ...

Heinrich Ernst Schirmer Heinrich Ernst Schirmer (27 August 1814 – 6 December 1887) was a German-born architect most noted for his work in Norway. Schirmer worked in Norway from 1838 to 1883 and left his mark on a number of public buildings. He contributed significant ...

. The church seats about 500 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1394, but the church was not new that year. The first church at Strøm 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 was likely built during the 11th century. This church was located about southwest of the present church site. It is not entirely clear how many churches have stood on this site, but the old churches were made of wood. Around 1590, the old church was torn down and a new church was built on the same site. Around the year 1700, the church was expanded. 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 t ...

which wrote the Constitution of Norway. 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. In 1853, the parish hired the

to design a new church that would be built about to the northeast of the old church. The new church was constructed from 1854 to 1857. It was a brick

building. There is a

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

and tower on the west end 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 ...

, a

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 sp ...

on the east end of the nave, and a sacristy on the north side of the choir. The new building was consecrated on 17 July 1857. After the new church was completed, the old church was torn down.

Media gallery

Strøm kirke, Skarnes - no-nb digifoto 20160414 00579 NB NS NM 08501.jpg Strøm kirke ved Skarnes. - no-nb digifoto 20151008 00135 NB MIT FNR 08054.jpg Strøm kirke interiør.jpg Strøm kirke, Skarnes - no-nb digifoto 20160414 00578 NB NS NM 08500.jpg Strøm kirke, Skarnes - no-nb digifoto 20160414 00584 NB NS NM 08507.jpg Strøm kirke, Skarnes - no-nb digifoto 20160414 00585 NB NS NM 08508.jpg Strøm kirke, Skarnes - no-nb digifoto 20160414 00583 NB NS NM 08506.jpg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strom Church Sør-Odal Churches in Innlandet Cruciform churches in Norway Brick churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1857 11th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church

History

Media gallery

See also

References