Old Tingelstad Church ( no, Tingelstad gamle kirke) is a former

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

Gran Municipality is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hadeland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Jaren. Other villages in Gran include Bjoneroa, Brandbu, Egge, Gran, and ...

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 Tingelstad. It is part of the Gran/Tingelstad

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

Hadeland og Land 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 ...

( deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar. The gray, stone church was built in a long church design around the year 1220 using plans drawn up by an unknown

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 ...

. The church seats about 110 people.

History

The stone church at Tingelstad was built around the year 1220 (modern

dendrochronological Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...

dating have dated the wood parts of the roof to the years 1219–1220). It was likely first built as a private chapel for a local manor farm. The design of the church is typical of many Romanesque medieval stone churches, with a rectangular

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 a smaller

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 ...

. The nave measures about on the outside, and the choir measures about . 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. Ov ...

is actually a little crooked in relation to the nave, and there is a sacristy on the north side of the chancel. The Old Tingelstad Church has also at some point been rebuilt. At the west end, the gable-end is constructed of wood. In 1673 a report was made that describe the wall as or dilapidated, necessitating reconstruction. In 1820, the old tower was taken down and a new wooden octagonal tower was constructed on the roof of the nave. According to the new church law in 1851, the parish church must have room for a certain percentage of the parish population, and this church was too small. Plans were made to build a new church about to the west of the old church. The new Tingelstad Church was completed in 1866, and after that, the old church was renamed as the "Old Tingelstad Church" and it was taken out of regular use. By royal decree, the church was approved to have one or two annual services each year in the summer. Otherwise it would only be used on special occasions and would be preserved for history.

Inventory

The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

on the wooden belfry bears a copy of a 12th-century

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

. The original vane is held in the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. It is believed that it was once fitted to the bow of a warship. Although the church contains a few other original, medieval features such as a wooden

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

and a stone altar, it is best known for its intact interior from the 16th and 17th centuries. The pulpit is from 1579 and is one of Norway's oldest. An altar frontal from 1699 can also be found in the church. A unique

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

from 1632 depicting the

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from thi ...

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

, has been partially revealed on the interior north wall.

Media gallery

Tingelstad old church, south side, 2008-06-01.jpg Tingelstad old church, Gran.jpg Tingelstad old church (west), Gran.jpg Tingelstad 3.jpg Tingelstad old Church.jpg Tingelstad kirke - no-nb digifoto 20160120 00040 NB NS 000150E.jpg Tingelstad kirke - no-nb digifoto 20160120 00039 NB NS 000150D.jpg

History

Inventory

Media gallery

See also

References

Related reading