Svanvik Church ( no, Svanvik 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 ...

Sør-Varanger Municipality Sør-Varanger ( sme, Máttá-Várjjat, fkv, Etelä-Varenki, fi, Etelä-Varanki, russian: Сёр-Вара́нгер/Syor-Varánger) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

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

Svanvik Svanvik is a locality situated in Orust Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. Its population in 2010 was 293. It is situated on Sweden's fourth largest island, Orust Orust () is an island in western Sweden, and Sweden's third largest is ...

in the

Pasvikdalen Pasvikdalen (russian: Долина реки Паз) is a valley in Norway and Russia. The Norwegian side of the valley belongs to Sør-Varanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county and the Russian side is located in the Pechengsky District in ...

valley, along the river

Pasvikelva The Paatsjoki River ( fi, Paatsjoki, sms, Paaččjokk, sme, Báhčaveaijohka, no, Pasvikelva, sv, Pasvik älv, russian: Паз or Патсойоки, ''Paz or Patsoyoki'') is a river that flows through Finland, Norway, and Russia. Since 1826 ...

, right on the border with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It is one of the churches for the Sør-Varanger

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

Varanger prosti Varanger may refer to: *Varanger Peninsula of Norway *Cryogenian The Cryogenian (from grc, κρύος, krýos, meaning "cold" and , romanized: , meaning "birth") is a geologic period that lasted from . It forms the second geologic period of the ...

(

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 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 Tromsø ...

. The wooden 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 described ...

style in 1934 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 ...

Harald Sund Harald Thorbjørn Sund (February 16, 1876 – April 9, 1940) was a Norwegian architect, artist and illustrator. Architectural career Sund was born at Sund in the parish of Gildeskål in Nordland, Norway. Sund studied architectural engineering ...

. The church seats about 250 people. The building was consecrated on 5 September 1934 after a long time when the people of the

valley wanted their own place of worship. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the chapel was located right in the firing line during the

Liberation of Finnmark The Liberation of Finnmark was a military operation, lasting from 23 October 1944 until 26 April 1945, in which Soviet and Norwegian forces wrested away control of Finnmark, the northernmost county of Norway, from Germany. It started with a Sovie ...

, but it received only minor damage and it was quickly repaired after the war.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=February 2021 Sør-Varanger Churches in Finnmark Wooden churches in Norway Cruciform churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1934 1934 establishments in Norway

See also

References