Åseral 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 ...

Åseral Municipality Åseral is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kyrkjebygda. Ot ...

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

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

Kyrkjebygda Kyrkjebygda or Kyrkjebygdi is the administrative centre of Åseral municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on a small flat plain in a valley at the northern end of the lake Øre at the confluence of the rivers Logna and Monn. ...

. It is one of the churches for the Åseral

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 Otredal 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 Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark () is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth largest city. Kristiansand Cathedral serves as the seat of t ...

. The white, wooden church was built in a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

design in 1822 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 ...

s Olav Aasland and Olav Bakken. The church seats about 300 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1328, but it was not new that year. The old church may have been 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 ...

that was possibly built in the 13th century. Historically, the church was named ''Aabø'' after the farm on which it was located (the more modern spelling of that in Norwegian would be ''Åbø''). In 1705, the church was renovated and a new

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

that was forged by Knut Gunnulvsen Mork was added to the top of the tower. The centuries-old church was torn down in 1822 and a new

church was built on the same site. Some of the logs from the old church were reused to build the entry porch on the new church building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaseral Church Åseral Churches in Agder Wooden churches in Norway Cruciform churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1822 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References