Vang Church ( no, Vang 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 ...

Hamar Municipality Hamar Municipality ( no, Hamar kommune; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Hedemarken. The administrative centre of the ...

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 t ...

. It is located in the village of

Ridabu Ridabu is a village in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located at the intersection of the European route E6 highway and the Norwegian National Road 3. Vang Church is located in the village which lies about east of ...

. It is one of the churches for the Vang

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

Hamar domprosti 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 d ...

(

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 Hamar The Diocese of Hamar ( no, Hamar Bispedømme) is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner in Viken county. Administratively, the diocese is divided ...

. The white, stone church was built in a

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 1810 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 ...

Abraham Pihl Abraham Pihl (3 October 1756 – 20 May 1821) was a Norwegian clergyman, astronomer, and architect. Biography Abraham Pihl was born in Gausdal, in Oppland county, Norway. He completed priest study at the University of Copenhagen in 1783 wher ...

. The church seats about 1,000 people.

History

The first church in Vang was a Romanesque stone church that was built in the early 12th century. It was dedicated to St. Clement. Historically, the

Hamar Cathedral Hamar Cathedral ( no, Hamar domkirke) is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Hamar within the Church of Norway. The cathedral is located in the town of Hamar which is in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is one of the churches f ...

was the main church for the area and Vang Church was an annex to that church. In 1567, the cathedral was destroyed and Vang Church became the main church for the parish. The original

long church Church building in Norway began when Christianity was established there around the year 1000. The first buildings may have been post churches erected in the 10th or 11th century, but the evidence is inconclusive. For instance under Urnes Stave C ...

design was enlarged in 1675 when a wing was added on the north side of 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 ...

. In 1693, another wing was built on the south side of the nave. Also that year, the old wooden

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 ...

was torn down and replaced with a larger stone porch. Stone for the expansion of the church was partly taken from the Hamar Cathedral ruins. A few hours after the

worship service A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adorat ...

on 8 July 1804, lightning struck in one of the small decorative spires at the top of the tower, and the fire spread rapidly to the tarred main spire and roof. The church burned down in a few hours, but the altar silver and pictures as well as some ornaments were saved. Parish priest

was given the task of designing and building a new church. He received help in the work by the builder Svend Aspaas. The new church had an

design and a large tower on the west end (the tower structure may have been reused from the previous building). Construction work began in August 1805. It was the parish priest of the place, Abraham Pihl, who designed the church, and who was partly responsible for the construction management. The builder Svend Aspaas (then 70 years old) from

Røros Røros ( sma, Plaassja, ) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Some of the villages in Røros include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen. The minin ...

took over the construction management in 1806 when Pihl was busy managing his task as an astronomical observer. Construction work was delayed by the war with Sweden in 1808, and then Pihl and Aspaas collaborated on the completion after the war. The new church was completed and put into use starting on 22 April 1810, although it was not 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 ...

until 30 November 1810. In 1814, this church served as an

election church An election church ( no, valgkirke) is a term used for approximately 300 churches in Norway that were used as polling stations during the elections to the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. This was Norway's first national election ...

( no, valgkirke). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814

Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised th ...

which wrote the

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

. This was Norway's first national elections. Each

church 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 ...

was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information E ...

later that year. In 1877, the church was rebuilt under the direction of

Paul Due Paul Due (13 August 1835 – 26 February 1919) was a Norwegian architect and significant contributor to the stations built by the Norwegian State Railways. Biography Paul Due was born in Kristiansand, Norway. He graduated in engineering sc ...

. On that occasion, the east wall was knocked out and a new

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 ...

was added as an extension. 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 ...

opening was given a Gothic pointed arch, but it was later changed to a round arch. At the same time, a new tower 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 ...

was built. In 1879, Eilif Peterssen painted a new

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

for the church, and it is still used in today's altarpiece.

Media gallery

Vang-kirke2.jpg Vang-kirke1.jpg Vang kirke ved Hamar på Hedemarken i Hedmark - Norway.JPG Vang kirke ved Hamar på Hedemarken i Hedmark - Norway 3.JPG Vang kirke aust.JPG Vang valgkirke.JPG No-nb digibok 2014091028002 0115 1 (cropped).jpg, View of the church (c. 1830) Vang church interior.JPG Vang Church chancel.JPG Vang Church pulpit.JPG

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2022 Buildings and structures in Hamar Churches in Innlandet Octagonal churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1810 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church

History

Media gallery

See also

References