Ølmheim 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 ...

Sogndal Municipality Sogndal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansv ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

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 Nornes, on the northern shore of the

Sogndalsfjorden Sogndalsfjorden is a fjord in Sogndal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The long fjord begins at the mouth of the river Arøyelvi, which flows out of the lake Hafslovatnet. It then flows to the southwest before emptying into the large So ...

. It is the church for the Norum

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

Sogn prosti Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway (''Vestlandet''). It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestran ...

(

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 Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin () 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, and those outside of Norway in the Seamen's Church. The cathedral cit ...

. The white, wooden church was built in a

long church Church building in Norway began when Christianity in Norway, 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 inst ...

design in 1863 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 ...

Christian Henrik Grosch. The church seats about 230 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1308, but the church was not new that year. The first church here 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 ...

that was likely built in the 13th century on a site about east of the present church site. Sometime before 1686, the old

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

was torn down and a new

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

choir was built to replace it. The old church was in use until 1700 or 1701 when it burned down. A new

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 ...

church was built in 1703 to replace it. The new church was built by Askild Tepstad. Over time, the new church was too small for the congregation, so in 1863 a new church was constructed about to the west of the old church. The new building was designed by Christian Henrik Grosch and the lead builder was Ole Olson Løken. After the new building was completed, the old church was torn down. On 15 January 1989, lightning struck the tower and it started burning. The fire department was alerted and arrived quickly enough that they had extinguished the fire before the whole church was destroyed. The tower was rebuilt in the autumn of the same year, and it looks the same as before.

Name

Historically, the church had been called Ylmheim Church (or Ølmheim Church), after the name of the nearby farm. However, starting around the year 1840, the church and the parish were named Norum. In 2015, the church was renamed using the historic ''Ølmheim'' name, but the parish name remained as ''Norum''.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2021 Sogndal Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1863 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Name

See also

References