Holy Cross Church ( no, Korskirken) is a special

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, ...

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

municipality in

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 the ...

. It is situated in the centre of the city of

, just east of the head of the Vågen bay. The church is located at the intersection of the streets Kong Oscars gate and Nedre Korskirkeallmenning. It is one of the churches for the Bergen domprosti

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 o ...

which is part of the Bergen domprosti (arch- deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The large stone church was built in a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly describe ...

design around the year 1150 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 600 people.

History

The oldest part of the church dates back to the second half of the 12th century. The first church on the site was built around the year 1150. Holy Cross Church was first mentioned in

Sverris saga ''Sverris saga'' is one of the Kings' sagas. Its subject is King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway (r. 1177–1202) and it is the main source for this period of Norwegian history. As the foreword tells us, the saga in its final form consists of mo ...

from 1185. At the time of construction, the church was situated on the shore of Vågen, probably marking the southern border of settlement in Bergen. The name refers to the

True Cross The True Cross is the cross upon which Jesus was said to have been crucified, particularly as an object of religious veneration. There are no early accounts that the apostles or early Christians preserved the physical cross themselves, althoug ...

(and not to its cruciform plan), and is rendered in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as "Holy Cross Church" or "Church of the Cross". This is because it was, as one of only a handful Norwegian churches, in possession of a relic from the True Cross. This relic was later stolen by the Danish king, along with several other relics from all over the country, during 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 ...

. Holy Cross Church was damaged in the fires of 1198, 1248, 1413, 1582, 1623, 1640 and 1702; the church originally had two towers, but one was destroyed in the 1582 fire and never rebuilt. It was originally built with straight rectangular plan. The church got its cruciform plan when transepts were added around 1615-1623. 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 t ...

which wrote the Constitution of Norway. 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 ...

later that year. The church was a

for Holy Cross Church parish in central

from 1320 until 2002. In 2002, several urban parishes in central Bergen were merged to form the "Bergen domkirke" parish. At the same time, Holy Cross Church ceased to be a regular parish church. It was given over to the Church City Mission (), and is now a special church in the urban parish. The church is an "open church" that is staffed every day so that people can experience silence or participate in the lighting of candles, conversation, community, attending

church services A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sa ...

, or listening to music. The Church City Mission focuses a lot on social work among the urban neighborhood as well as religious outreach.

Gallery

Bergen - Korskirken og Vågsbunnen fra Fløyen.jpg, Aerial view Norwegen 1998 (111) Bergen- Korskirken (34929415815).jpg, Holy Cross Church Tower Korskirken, Bergen..jpg, Holy Cross Church Side View Korskirken, Bergen.......jpg, Holy Cross Church Entrance Korskirken (1016490368).jpg, Holy Cross Church Cemetery Bergen, Korskirken (1).jpg, Interior view Bergen, Korskirken (2).jpg, Interior view Bergen, Korskirken (3).jpg, Interior door

References

External links

Korskirken.no
{{use dmy dates, date=June 2020 Churches in Bergen Stone churches in Norway Cruciform churches in Norway 12th-century churches in Norway 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election church

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links