Ulstein Church ( no, Ulstein 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 ...

in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Ulstein Ulstein is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The commercial and administrative centre of Ulstein is the town of Ulsteinvik. The municipality occupies the western half of the island of Hareidla ...

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 ...

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 town of

Ulsteinvik is a town in the municipality of Ulstein, Møre og Romsdal, Norway. The town is the commercial and administrative centre of Ulstein and as such, Ulsteinvik contains 74% of the municipality's population. The town has a population (2018) of 5,788 ...

on the western side of the island of

Hareidlandet Hareidlandet is an island in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The island is divided between Hareid Municipality and Ulstein Municipality. The island has a population of 13,030 (as of 2015). The island is mentioned by Snorri in his reports about ...

. It is the church for the Ulstein

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 Søre Sunnmøre 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 designed 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 ...

design in 1849 using plans drawn up by Hans Nicolai Wraamann, the local parish priest. The church seats about 400 people. Originally, the church was built about north of Ulsteinvik, but in 1878 it was taken down and moved into Ulsteinvik.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1432, but the church was not new that year. The first church in Ulstein was a stone church that was likely built in the 12th century. The church was originally located about northwest of

. The old medieval church was made of stone and whitewashed on the inside and outside, measuring approximately for 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 ...

and the

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 ...

measured about . The nave had a main entrance on the west end and there was a small entrance on the south side of the choir. The church was not a perfect rectangle. The south wall of the nave was a little longer than the north wall, which meant 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. Ove ...

was at an oblique angle to the nave. In 1660, a

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

extension was built to the south side of the nave and a new timber-framed

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 main entrance was built on the north side of the nave. The old entrance on the west end of the nave was walled up. On 30 October 1847,

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

struck the church tower and the building (which already was in poor condition) was heavily damaged beyond repair. The church was completely demolished and a new church was built a few meters to the west to the old church site. The new church was a

building that had a

and

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 ...

on the east end of the nave and a

on the west end of the nave. The new church was designed by the local parish priest Hans Nicolai Wraamann. The new church was completed in the late fall of 1848 and it was formally

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 13 May 1849. During the 1870s, the parish made the big decision to move the church site from its medieval location, about to the southeast into the village of

where the majority of the parish lived. Since the current church building was relatively new and in good condition, it was decided to disassemble to the old building and move the materials to the new site where it would be rebuilt there. So, in 1878, the old church was disassembled and moved to Ulsteinvik where it was rebuilt. The new structure was nearly identical to the old building, using almost all the same materials, but there were some changes were made during the reconstruction, including making the choir larger than before. The new building was re-

on 27 October 1878. In 1914, the church was restored and redecorated. In 1961, the

was enlarged, and in 1968 the church porch was enlarged.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=August 2021 Ulstein Churches in Møre og Romsdal Wooden churches in Norway Octagonal churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1849 12th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References