Nøtterøy 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 ...

Færder Municipality Færder is a municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Borgheim. Other villages in the municipality include Årøysund, Bj ...

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

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

Borgheim Borgheim is the administrative centre of Færder Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is located on the central part of the island of Nøtterøy. The village lies about west of the village of Nesbrygga, about to the northwest ...

. It is one of the churches for the Nøtterøy

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 Tønsberg domprosti (

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 Tunsberg Tunsberg is a diocese of the Church of Norway. It includes all of the parishes located within the counties of Vestfold and Buskerud, with the cathedral located in the city of Tønsberg. The Diocese of Tunsberg consists of the cathedral deanery and ...

. The white, stone church was originally built with 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 around the year 1100 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 500 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1327, but the church was not built that year. The church was likely built in the early 12th century. Originally, it was a simple

with a choir with a curved

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

end. When it was first built, it measured about . The church was originally dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. The church walls were built with brick and rubble technique. The Count of

Jarlsberg Jarlsberg was a former countship that forms a part of today's Vestfold county in Norway. The name translates as "Earl's Hill". The former countships of Jarlsberg and Larvik were merged into a county in 1821. Jarlsberg and Larvik's County (''Jarl ...

owned the church from 1673 to 1770 when he sold it to some local farmers. 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 in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...

later that year. In 1837, the municipality took over the ownership of the church and immediately began discussing enlarging the church. In 1839, the church was given cross arms to give it 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 ...

floor plan. The nave and tower were also repaired at this time. Then in 1862, the wooden part of the tower was removed, and the tower was rebuilt and made approximately taller. In 1883, the church was extended eastwards by builder F. Meyer according to plans by

Jacob Wilhelm Nordan Jacob Wilhelm Nordan (23 February 1824 – 11 April 1892) was a Danish-born, Norwegian architect. During his career, he was one of the most prolific church architects in Norway. Biography Nordan was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and came to Nor ...

. It now appears as a cruciform church with a west tower. To the east there is a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

surrounded by

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spent nearly one-fi ...

, and there are stairwells to the north and south at the corners of the transepts (to the second-floor seating galleries). After the 1883 renovation, the church measured about .

Media gallery

Nøtterøy kirke (Lutheran church medieval ca 1100) Kirkeveien Færder kommune Vestfold Norway vinter uten snø 2023-02-21 IMG 7667.jpg Nøtterøy kirke (Lutheran church medieval ca 1100) Kirkeveien Færder kommune Vestfold NorwayKapell gravkapell (chapel) vinter uten snø 2023-02-21 IMG 7705.jpg Nøtterøy kirke (Lutheran church medieval ca 1100) Kirkeveien Færder kommune Vestfold Norway 2023-02-21 IMG 7691.jpg Nøtterøy kirke (Lutheran church medieval ca 1100) Kirkeveien Færder kommune Vestfold Norway 2023-02-21 DSC08704.jpg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Notteroy Church Færder Churches in Vestfold Cruciform churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 12th-century churches in Norway 12th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches

History

Media gallery

See also

References