Ullensaker Church is a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

Ullensaker Ullensaker is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Jessheim. It has a population of 40,459 inhabitants. Norway's largest ...

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 ...

, located southeast of

Oslo Airport, Gardermoen Oslo Airport ( no, Oslo lufthavn; ), alternatively referred to as Oslo Gardermoen Airport or simply Gardermoen, is the international airport serving Oslo, Norway, the capital and most populous city in the country. A hub for Flyr, Norse Atl ...

. It is the fourth church that has been located almost there since the 12th century. The present church was built in concrete in 1958 and has been given the nickname "Romeriksdomen" ("The Romerike Cathedral") locally because of its monumental character.Bjørg Vikne Dæhlie et al .: Velkommen til Ullensaker kirke! (Booklet drawn up for the 2008 anniversary)

History

The first church, from c. 1190, was a stone church that was located about 200 meters further northeast. It was established at the prestigious ''Ullinshof'', a pre-Christian cult center. Most of this church was taken by a

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

landslide c. 1490, but four doors and some other fixtures in the doorway were preserved.Ullensaker kirke
Norske kirkebygg Ullensaker kirkested
Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage In c. 1525 a simple

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 ...

was built at the present church site. It seems that the name of the

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

was changed to Ullensaker Cemetery on that occasion. The stave church was c. 1640 extended to 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 ...

church.

Ullensaker kirke, Akershus - Riksantikvaren-T040 01 0064

In 1768 the stave church was demolished and replaced by another wooden church, a white-painted church of timber. This church was struck by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...

and burned to the ground in 1952, but much of the valuable fixtures of the former churches were rescued. The current church was consecrated on October 12, 1958.

Interior

The visitors are welcomed by a statue of

Archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

over the entrance, created by Ragnhild Butenschøn. Most of the decorations in the church room are created by artist Alf Rolfsen. The altarpiece, the pulpit and the baptismal font are from the former church that burned in 1952. The altarpiece was created by the

wood carver Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

Johan Reinholt in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

in 1633. It has several fields that illustrate different evangelical sites, with the communion in the great central field. The pulpit is in

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

style and has five fields depicting The Evangelists and

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. The baptismal font of

soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the ...

was created in

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending towa ...

in the mid 12th century. The church has two

church bell A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and to ...

s in the bell tower that were made by

Olsen Nauen Bell Foundry The Olsen Nauen Bell Foundry ( no, Olsen Nauen Klokkestøperi) is a Norwegian bell foundry located in the municipality of Tønsberg. The foundry was established in 1844 by Ole Olsen, and it is headed today by the sixth generation of the Olsen ...

, in addition to a preserved

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

church bell that can be found in the

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

. The Ullensaker church site is listed and protected by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.

References

External links

Official website
{{in lang, no Churches in Viken Churches completed in 1958 1958 establishments in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings