Tresfjord Church ( no, Tresfjord kyrkje) 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 ...

Vestnes Municipality Vestnes is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Vestnes is part of the traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vestnes. Other villages in the municipality include Vikeb ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is 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 t ...

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

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 Indre Romsdal 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 Møre The Diocese of Møre ( no, Møre bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway which geographically consists of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Its bishop is seated at the Molde Cathedral which is located in the county administrative center ...

. The white, wooden church was built in an

octagonal In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

style in 1828 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 ...

and master builder Erik Kroken. The church seats about 220 people. The King and Queen of Norway visited the church in 2003.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1589 when it was called , but the church was not new that year. At that time it was mentioned in Trondhjems reformats 1589 (a record of churches and ecclesiastical goods in central and northern Norway) and it was considered to be an annex chapel to the

Old Veøy Church Old Veøy Church ( no, Veøy gamle kyrkje) is a former parish church of the Church of Norway in Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the small island of Veøya which lies in the Romsdalsfjorden. It was the main c ...

. The first church here 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 a ...

that may have been built in the 14th century. The medieval building was located about west of the current church site. In 1690, the old church was torn down. The materials from the old church were sold. Window glass from the previous church dating to 1634 that was used in the

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

of the church, was re-used in a residential building but is now kept at the museum in Trondheim. That same year, a new wooden

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 ...

church was constructed on the same site as the previous building. The tower was relatively tall and centrally located. The walls of this 1690 church were covered in siding. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

and some other furniture from the previous church were reused in the new church in 1690. During the

Norwegian church auction The Norwegian church sale ( no, kirkesalget) was a comprehensive and systematic sale of most of the church properties in Norway during the 1720s. The purpose of this sale was the intention of improving the poor public finances in the Kingdom of Denm ...

, the church and adjacent properties were sold by the King in 1721 to help pay off debts from the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...

. The church was bought by 84 local farmers from the Tresfjord area. In 1825, the church was 135 years old and in poor shape, so the people decided to tear it down and rebuild a new church on a site about east of the old site. Erik Kroken was hired as the lead builder. Farmers that supplied timber for the new building were able to obtain part ownership in the church. Substantial construction work was volunteer and unpaid. The new church was completed in 1828. The building was

consecrated 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 ...

on 17 June 1828. The building is a log construction. The octagonal shape typical for the area is elongated with a

and

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 ...

added to main octagonal body. Tresfjord Municipality bought the church in 1902 from the local farmers and made the church public property. The church was renovated by

Domenico Erdmann Domenico Juul Erdmann (March 23, 1879 – October 5, 1940) was a Norwegian painter, designer, decorator, and conservation adviser. He was a technical consultant and executive conservator in a number of Norwegian churches.Tore Kirkholt''Store nor ...

in 1927-1929. In the 1970s, steel wire stays were installed to support and straighten the building. After substantial repairs in 2006 the structure is now stable without supporting wire stays.

Interior

The altar frontal above the pulpit dates from the early 14th century. It is an oil painting measuring . About 30 such medieval frontals exist in Norway, this is the only one not in a museum. The altar frontal is made from pine boards, and the cracks between boards are covered with

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

. There is old Norse writings on the parchment which shows that altar frontal was made in Norway. There was also an old carpet, probably an

antependium An ''antependium'' (from Latin ''ante-'' and ''pendēre'' "to hang before"; pl: ''antependia''), also known as a ''parament'' or ''hanging'', or, when speaking specifically of the hanging for the altar, an altar frontal (Latin: ''pallium altaris ...

, made from woven wool and linen, this carpet is now kept at

Norwegian Museum of Cultural History Norsk Folkemuseum (Norwegian Museum of Cultural History), at Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway, is a museum of cultural history with extensive collections of artifacts from all social groups and all regions of the country. It also incorporates a large open- ...

. The pulpit is in

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

and was crafted by a local blacksmith in 1687 for the previous church. The first organ was installed in 1921, previously hymns were sung without instrumental accompaniment. Clocks in the tower are from the 19th century. Farms with ownership in the church had reserved seats with names painted on the small doors to each row of seats. Women were seated to the left, men to the right where there are still pegs for the men's hats. Along the upper part of the wall around the entire nave there is a wide field of

rosemaling Rose-painting, , or is a Scandinavian decorative folk painting that flourished from the 1700s to the mid-19th century, particularly in Norway. In Sweden, rose-painting began to be called , c. 1901, for the region where it had been most popular ...

. Four painted pillars (staves) support the roof. The rafters are decorated with green vines. The ceiling is decorated with blue stars. The interior was restored in 1928 and in 1968 (after leakage). There are five large paintings with biblical motives. Above the chancel there is a large painted rose with the Hebrew word . The balcony is decorated with Carl XIV Johan’s monogram between two lions. The interior includes a crucifix, an angel, and

eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

figures from an older church (possibly the 1690 church building). There is also a 1738 copy of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. A collection box for donations to the poor needs two keys to open. The baptismal font originate from the previous church.

Media gallery

Tresfjord kirke, Møre og Romsdal - Riksantikvaren-T325 01 0033.jpg Tresfjord kirke innvendig.jpg, Interior. Tresfjord kyrkje sør.JPG Tresfjord kyrkje.JPG Tresfjord.jpg Tresfjord Kirke - no-nb digifoto 20150205 00141 NB MIT FNR 15777.jpg Tresfjord kirke, Møre og Romsdal - Riksantikvaren-T325 01 0023.jpg Tresfjord kirke, Møre og Romsdal - Riksantikvaren-T325 01 0039.jpg

References

External links

Tresfjord Church
on kunsthistorie.com (History of Art wiki, in Norwegian), more photos. {{use dmy dates, date=July 2021 Vestnes Churches in Møre og Romsdal Wooden churches in Norway Octagonal churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1828 14th-century establishments in Norway

History

Interior

Media gallery

See also

References

External links