Ask Church ( no, Ask 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 ...

Askøy Municipality Askøy is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island municipality is located in the Midhordland district of the county, sitting in a large group of islands immediately northwest of the city of Bergen. The administrative centre of t ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, 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 cit ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

. It is located in the village of Ask, on the eastern coast of the island of

Askøy Askøy is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island municipality is located in the Midhordland district of the county, sitting in a large group of islands immediately northwest of the city of Bergen. The administrative centre of the ...

. It is the church for the Ask

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 ...

which is part of the Vesthordland 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 reside ...

) 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

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 1908 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 ...

Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff. The church seats about 275 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1320, but it was not new that year. The first church at Ask was likely a wooden church that was possibly built during the 12th century. The exact church site is not known, but there is a stone cross memorial on a site where it possibly was located, about north of the present church site. The church was made an annex chapel to the

Bergen Cathedral Bergen Cathedral ( no, Bergen domkirke) is a cathedral in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Bjørgvin as well as the seat of the "Bergen domkirke" parish and the seat of the Bergen domprosti ...

parish starting at the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. Because of this, there was no resident priest at Ask, and residents had to go across the Byfjorden to the city of Bergen to get to the main church. The residents of Askøy petitioned the King for their own parish for many years and it was not until 1740 when a rich merchant named Henrik Schreuder offered to pay for a new church. Instead of building a new church at Ask, however, the new church was built in the village of

Strusshamn Strusshamn is an urban village in the municipality of Askøy in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies along the Byfjorden on the southern coast of the island of Askøy, just west of the large urban village of Kleppestø. Strusshamn is one of ...

, in a location that was more centrally located in the parish. In 1741, the new Strusshamn Church was built on the southern shore of the island and the old Ask Church was torn down. In the late 19th century, the people of the village of Ask were tired of the long journey to the other side of the island to get to the church and so they began asking for a church of their own. Eventually, the new Ask Church was approved and it was built in 1908 using designs by the

Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff. Torjus Tengesdal was the lead builder of the new church. The new church 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 8 October 1908 by the Bishop Johan Willoch Erichsen. The church cost a total of and was built with a lot of volunteer labor. After its completion, it was made a chapel under the Strusshamn Church parish. In 1954-1955, the church was renovated according to plans by

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 ...

. In 1987, 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 enlarged.

Media gallery

Ask church - panoramio.jpg Ask church, Askøy, Hordaland, Norway.jpg AskKirke.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=November 2021 Askøy Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 12th-century establishments in Norway 18th-century disestablishments in Norway 1908 establishments in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1908

History

Media gallery

See also

References