Tranøy Church () is a historic

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 ...

Senja Municipality Senja is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020 when the municipalities of Berg, Lenvik, Torsken, and Tranøy were merged into one municipality. It is located in the traditional district of Hålogaland. ...

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

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 on the small island of Tranøya, just off the shore of the large island of Senja. It formerly was the main church for the Tranøy

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 Senja 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 Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms and Finnmark counties as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø at the Tromsø Cathedral, 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 ...

style in 1775 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 210 people. The church is no longer used for regular worship services since the island on which it sits is no longer populated, nor does it have a road connection. It is, however, used periodically for special occasions.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1350, but the church was likely built around the 1200s to serve the areas that now make up

Tranøy Municipality Tranøy () is a former municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality was situated on the southern coast of the large island of Senja. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into the new Senj ...

Dyrøy Municipality Dyrøy () is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Brøstadbotn. Other villages include Dyrøyhamn, Espenes, Holm, and Hundstrand. The municipality is the 270th largest by ...

, and

Sørreisa Municipality Sørreisa () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sørreisa (village), Sørreisa. Other villages include Grunnreisa, Skø ...

. The second church was likely built around the 1400s. The church had a rectangular

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a narrower, rectangular

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 ...

as well as a tower. The church had a

sod roof A sod roof, or turf roof, is a traditional Scandinavian type of green roof covered with sod on top of several layers of birch bark on gently sloping wooden roof boards. Until the late 19th century, it was the most common roof on rural log h ...

. Around the mid-1700s, the

was expanded by adding two cross arms, giving it a

design. In the 1770s, the church was found to be dilapidated and damaged by moisture due to being located on a "swampy site". In 1775, the old church was torn down and a new church was built on a more suitable site about to the south of the old 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 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. This church was the main church for the Tranøy

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

for hundreds of years until 1896 when the new

Stonglandet Church Stonglandet Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. It is located in the village of Stonglandseidet on the south side of the Senja (island), island of Senja. It is one of the churches for ...

was built on the main island of Senja. Today, the island of Tranøya is no longer populated and it does not have a road connection to the rest of the municipality. The church is no longer regularly used other than for special occasions and one worship service each summer. The church and the surrounding farm is part of the Midt-Troms Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tranoy Church Senja Churches in Troms Cruciform churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 18th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1775 13th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches

History

See also

References