Hamarøy Church ( or ) 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 ...

Hamarøy Municipality or is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Oppeid ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

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

Presteid Presteid is a village in Hamarøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located immediately east of the village of Oppeid, along the Presteidfjorden. Presteid is part of the Oppeid urban area which has a population (2023) of 557. The v ...

. It is the church for the Hamarøy

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 Ofoten 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 Sør-Hålogaland Sør-Hålogaland is a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covers the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within Nordland county in Norway. The diocese is headquartered in the Bodø (town), town of Bodø at Bodø Cathedral, the sea ...

. The white, modern,

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

church was built in a fan-shaped style in 1974 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 ...

Nils Toft. The church seats about 400 people.

History

Hamarøy Church is located on an old church site. The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1589, but the building wasn't new at that time. The old

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 ...

was torn down in 1655 and replaced with a new building on the same site, about south of the present church site. It was a timber-framed

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 1771, the church was inspected and described as "dilapidated", so planning began for a new replacement church. In 1775, the old church was torn down and a new cruciform church was constructed on the same site. In 1814, this church served as an

election church An election church () 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 elections and this ass ...

(). 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 ( or ) is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised the dissolution of the union with Denmark. The meetings took place at the Eidsvoll Manor in th ...

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 Eidsvollsbygningen (Literally: ''The Eidsvoll building'') is a historic manor house located at Eidsvoll in Akershus county, Norway. The building is where the Constitution of Norway was signed on 17 May 1814. The estate is now owned by The State o ...

later that year. In 1840, the church was renovated, including a new tower on the roof and a new

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

. By royal decree on 28 October 1882, it was ordered to demolish Hamarøy's old church and build a new church with 700 seats on a site further to the north. So, in 1885, a new church was built about to the north of the old church. Another royal decree from 19 September 1885, ordered that after the new church was completed, the old church was taken down and moved to the village of Karlsøy on the nearby island of Finnøya where it was rebuilt and is now known as the

Sagfjord Church Sagfjord Church ( or ) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Hamarøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Karlsøy on the island of Finnøya. It is one of the churches for the Sagfjord parish which is ...

. In October 1969, Hamarøy Church burned down after a

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

strike. The present church was completed in 1974 on the same site as the previous building.

Media gallery

Hamarøy kirke-01.jpg, Hamarøy kirke - innvendig 2.JPG Hamarøy kirke - innvendig.JPG Hamarøy kirke - kordelen.JPG Hamarøy kirke - alterbilde.JPG Hamarøy kirke - orgel.JPG Hamarøy kirke - døpefont.JPG Hamarøy kirke - Krusifiks.JPG

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamaroy Church Hamarøy Churches in Nordland 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1974 14th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches Fan-shaped churches in Norway Concrete churches in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References