Vikebygd Church ( no, Vikebygd 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 ...

Vindafjord Municipality Vindafjord is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Rogaland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Haugaland. Since 2005, the administrative centre of the municipality has ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

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

Vikebygd Vikebygd is a village in Vindafjord municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located along the Ålfjorden, about straight west of the village of Ølensvåg. The village was the administrative centre of the former municipality o ...

. It is the church for the Vikebygd

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

Haugaland prosti This list of churches in Rogaland is a list of the Church of Norway churches in Rogaland county, Norway. The churches are all part of the Diocese of Stavanger. The diocese is based at the Stavanger Cathedral in the city of Stavanger. The list ...

(

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 Stavanger The Diocese of Stavanger ( no, Stavanger bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Li ...

. The white, stone church was built in a

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 ...

style in 1937 using designs 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 ...

Torgeir Alvsaker Torgeir Alvsaker (1875—1971) was a Norwegian architect. Alvsaker was born 9 February 1875 on the Alvsaker farm in Kinsarvik (municipality), Kinsarvik, Norway. He attended the Bergen Technical School and graduated in 1898. He then became an ...

History

The first church at Vikebygd was built in the

middle ages 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 a ...

and it was first mentioned in historical records in 1315. That church was most likely a

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 ...

. The original church was torn down in 1682 and replaced with a timber-framed church on the same site. This second church eventually needed replacing and in 1872 a new church was built near the old one, but somewhat closer to the fjord. The new church was designed by the architect Ole Vangberg and it was

consecrate 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 ...

d on 16 October 1872 by the Bishop

Peter Hersleb Graah Birkeland Peter Hersleb Graah Birkeland (14 January 1807–5 January 1896) was a Norwegian priest in the Church of Norway. He served as Bishop of the Diocese of Bjørgvin from 1864–1880. Early life and family Peter Birkeland was born in the village ...

. After the new church was in use, the old church was torn down and the materials sold off in 1873. On 16 April 1926, the church at Vikebygd burned down. The church was quickly rebuilt in a style reminiscent of the old

es, designed by the

Torgeir Alvsaker. This new (4th) church was

d on 11 July 1928 by the Bishop

Peter Hognestad Peter Hognestad (12 November 1866 – 1 September 1931) was a Norwegian Lutheran bishop, theologian, writer, and translator. Hognestad was from Jæren in Norway and he served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Bjørgvin from 1916 until his deat ...

. Sadly, this new church was very short-lived. A fire claimed this church on 8 December 1930, just about two and a half years after its completion. A few years later in 1937, a new church was built by the same architect, but it was built about up the hill from the

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

where the old church was previously located. The new stone church was consecrated by the Bishop

Andreas Fleischer Andreas Fleischer (5 November 1878–23 November 1957) was a Norwegian theologian, missionary to China, and Lutheranism, Lutheran Bishop. He was born in Hegra, Norway, and was a brother to General Carl Gustav Fleischer. He was Bishop of the Dioce ...

References

{{use dmy dates, date=September 2020 Vindafjord Churches in Rogaland Stone churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1937 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References