Vardø 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 ...

Vardø Municipality Vardø (; ; ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county in the extreme northeastern part of Norway. Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway, more to the east than Saint Petersburg or Istanbul. ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

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 town of Vardø on the island of

Vardøya , , or is an island in Vardø Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The island is the location of the town of Vardø. The island sits about east of the mainland Varanger Peninsula. The island is connected to the mainland by the Vardø Tun ...

. It is the main church for the Vardø

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 Varanger 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. The white, modern, concrete 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 ...

style in 1958 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 ...

Eyvind Moestue. It has a high roof with a steep pitch, with a tall triangular steeple. The church seats about 432 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1307 when the oldest known church in Vardø was

consecrate Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

d by the Archbishop which is around the time that this part of Northern Norway was settled by Norwegians. The first church in Vardø was located about south of the present site of the church. Not much is known about the first church, but in 1599 the church is described as a small timber building with room for about 100 people. A map from 1601 depicts the building outline which shows that it was a

with 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

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 ...

on the east end and a small entry porch on the west end. It is possible that there was a small tower or

onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate (drum) upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. They taper smoothly upwards to a point. It is a typical ...

on top of the roof. In a 1709 inspection, the church was described as "just about to collapse", so plans were made for a new church. In 1714, 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 ...

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 ...

building was constructed about north of the old church site. After the new church was opened, the old church was used for storage for a few years and was torn down around 1716. 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 1869, the old church was torn down and a new church was constructed on the same site. The new building was designed by the

Christian Heinrich Grosch. That wooden church stood for about 75 years before it was burned down by the retreating Germans near the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The parishioners met in a temporary house church from 1944 until the present church was completed in 1958. The new concrete church building was

d on 5 October 1958.

Media gallery

1989.03.XX Vardø kirke.jpg, Vardo Kirche-1.jpg, Kirkegata Street in Vardø.jpg, Vardø Church interior.jpg, Vardø - no-nb digifoto 20141210 00177 NB MIT FNR 18406.jpg, Gamle Vardoe kyrkje Wilse.jpeg, Old church (1933)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vardo Church Vardø Churches in Finnmark 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1958 14th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches Long churches in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References