Ã…fjord Church
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Ã…fjord Church () is a
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...
of the
Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...
in
Åfjord Municipality Åfjord is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Å, Åfjord, Årnes ...
in
Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...
county,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. It is located in the village of Ã…rnes, just east of the Ã…fjorden and west of the lake Stordalsvatnet. It is one of two churches in the ''Ã…fjord og Stoksund''
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
which is part of the Fosen prosti (
deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the 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 residence of ...
) in the Diocese of Nidaros. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1879 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 ...
Knut Guttormsen. The church seats 430 people. It was
consecrate Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...
d on 9 October 1879 by Bishop Andreas Grimelund.


History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1329, but the church was not new that year. The first church was a stave church that was likely built in the 13th century on a site about southeast of the present church site. The church was originally dedicated to
John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...
. The church was historically known as ''Aa Church''. The old church was repaired in 1675, 1684, and again in 1715. On 28 January 1770, the church burned down. Over the next couple years, a new church was built on the same site. It was
consecrate Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...
d on 8 July 1772. It was a wooden long church. Originally, it had a small tower on the roof. In 1814, this church served as an election church (). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the
Constitution of Norway The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish language, Danish: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian Bokmål: ; Nynorsk, Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the N ...
. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish 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 at Eidsvoll Manor later that year. In 1849, the church was struck by lightning which caused some fire damage to the roof. During the reconstruction after this fire, the old tower was taken down and a large new tower was constructed on the west end of the building. By the late 1800s, the church was getting to be in poor condition. It was also getting too small for the congregation. In 1879, a new church was built about northwest of the old church. The new building was
consecrate Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...
d on 9 October 1879. The old church was torn down in 1880.


Media gallery

Åfjord kirke 2013.jpg, Exterior view (2013) Åfjord kirke flyfoto 080810.jpg, Aerial view Åfjord kirkegård lite.jpg, Aerial view of the graveyard Gammel og ny kirke.png, View of the church in 1879 with the old 1772 church right next to it before its demolition.


See also

* List of churches in Nidaros


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aafjord Church Åfjord Churches in Trøndelag Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1879 13th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches