Volbu Church ( no, Volbu 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 Øystre Slidre Municipality in

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

Volbu Volbu is a village in Øystre Slidre Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located on a hillside between the lakes Heggefjorden and Volbufjorden. The village of Heggenes lies about to the north, the village of Moane Moan ...

. It is the church for the Volbu

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

Valdres prosti 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), Viken county) in Norway. The list is divided into several sections ...

(

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, wooden 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 ...

design in 1831 using plans drawn up by an unknown

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 ...

. The church seats about 150 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1315, but the church was not built that year. The first church in Volbu was a wooden

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 ...

that was likely built around the year 1150. This church stood on the same site as the present-day church. The church had a

design with a rectangular

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 ...

measuring about and a

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 ...

that measured about . There was a wide open-air corridor surrounding the building. During

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

times, the church was dedicated to

St. Blasius Blaise of Sebaste ( hy, Սուրբ Վլասի, ''Surb Vlasi''; el, Ἅγιος Βλάσιος, ''Agios Vlasios''; ) was a physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey) who is venerated as a Christian saint and m ...

and because of this, it was locally known as . During the great church auction of 1723, the king sold the church to the local people of the parish. By the turn of the 19th century, the church had been in poor condition for some time. There was talk of simply closing the church and sending its parishioners tot the nearby Rogne Church. Ultimately, it was decided to demolish the old church and to build a new church on the same site. The old church was torn down in 1830 and the new church was built in 1830–1831. Some of the good materials from the old church were reused in the construction of the new church. A letter from the local provost from March 1831 states that the new church is being constructed and should be finished by June 1831. The new building was

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 1831 (probably in the summer or fall). In 1856, the exterior walls of the church received paneled siding to cover up the logs for the log building and new windows and doors were installed. In 1920, the church was enlarged and renovated. The old

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 removed and the church was lengthened to the west. This new area included a new porch plus a baptismal waiting room and stairs to the organ gallery and attic. Also, a new

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 on the south side of the choir.
Picture of the church in 1914
before the expansion.) An archaeological survey was carried out under the existing church in 1969 during a renovation and restoration. This survey showed that the old stave church was located on the same plot of land as the present church. In connection with the investigations, a total of 14 coins were found with some dating back to the 14th century or earlier. The oldest coin dated back to the time of King Håkon Håkonsson in the 1200s.

Dendrochronological Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...

samples from preserved wooden materials from the stave church show that the trees were cut down around the years 1146–1148, meaning the church was likely built around the year 1150.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2022 Øystre Slidre Churches in Innlandet Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1831 12th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References