Vike Church ( no, Vike 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 ...

Alver Municipality Alver is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordhordland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Knarvik. Other villages include Alversund, Alver, Isdalstø, Lindå ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

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 Vikanes, along the

Romarheimsfjorden Romarheimsfjorden is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. The fjord flows through the municipalities of Modalen, Alver, and Osterøy. The western end of the fjord lies near the island of Hokøy where the fjord flows in to the Osterfjorden Ost ...

. It is one of two churches in the Osterfjorden

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

Nordhordland prosti Nordhordland is a traditional district in the western part of Norway. The district consists of the northern portion of the old Hordaland county (now in Vestland county), north of the city of Bergen. It includes the municipalities Alver, Austr ...

(

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 Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin ( no, Bjørgvin bispedømme) is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway. The cathedral city is Bergen, Norway's second ...

. The white, wooden church was built in a

rectangular In Euclidean geometry, Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a par ...

design in 1891 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 ...

Johannes Øvsthus Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

. The church seats about 200 people.

History

In 1875, a cemetery was built in Vikanes. Soon after, people began asking for a chapel to be built by the cemetery. Around 1890, plans were made to build a chapel at the site. The parish hired

to design the building and Askild S. Heldal was hired as the lead builder. The church was completed and

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 ...

in 1891. In 1951, the church received electricity for light and heat. It was renovated in 1967 under the direction of architect Claus Lindstrøm. Then in 1991, under the direction of architect

Einar Vaardal-Lunde Einar Vaardal-Lunde (1915–2003) was a Norwegian architect. Vaardal-Lunde was educated at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, graduating in 1940. After World War II, he participated in the rebuilding efforts and reconstruction in Finnmar ...

, the church was renovated again, this time the

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 rebuilt as well.

Media gallery

Vike kirke.jpg Vike kapell Romarheimsfjorden.jpg Vikanes harbour and ships, Osterfjord, Norway,.jpg Kor Vike.JPG Alter Vike.JPG Døypefont Vike.JPG Vike bakover.JPG Preikestol Vike.JPG

References

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2021 Alver (municipality) Churches in Vestland Rectangular churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1891 1891 establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References