Seljord Church
Seljord kyrkje
View of the church
59°29′23″N 8°38′09″E / 59.489803°N 8.6358842°E / 59.489803; 8.6358842
LocationSeljord Municipality,
Vestfold og Telemark
CountryNorway
DenominationChurch of Norway
Previous denominationCatholic Church
ChurchmanshipEvangelical Lutheran
History
StatusParish church
Foundedc. 1180
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architectural typeLong church
Completedc. 1180 (1180)
Specifications
Capacity160
MaterialsStone
Administration
DioceseAgder og Telemark
DeaneryØvre Telemark prosti
ParishSeljord
TypeChurch
StatusAutomatically protected
ID85418

Seljord Church (Norwegian: Seljord kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Seljord Municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Seljord. It is one of the churches for the Seljord parish which is part of the Øvre Telemark prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark. The white, stone church was built in a long church design around the year 1180 using plans drawn up by an unknown architect. The church seats about 160 people.[1][2][3]

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1319, but that is not when the church was built. The stone church was built around the year 1180, although construction likely started earlier, possibly as early as 1150. The church has a rectangular nave and chancel with a small tower on the roof of the nave. The chancel has a semi-circular apse on the east end. Around 1630, the church was struck by lightning and it caught fire. Afterwards, the church was rebuilt after the extensive damage from the fire. A new wooden church porch was built on the west end after the fire.[4][5]

In 1814, this church served as an election church (Norwegian: valgkirke).[6][7] Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway. 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 later that year.[6][8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Seljord kyrkje". Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  2. ↑ "Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker" (in Norwegian). KirkeKonsulenten.no. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  3. ↑ Rasmussen, Alf Henry. Våre kirker: Norsk kirkeleksikon (in Norwegian). Kirkenær, Norge: Vanebo forlag. p. 494. ISBN 8275270227. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  4. ↑ "Seljord kyrkjestad" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  5. ↑ "Seljord kirke". Norges-Kirker.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Valgkirkene". LokalHistorieWiki.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  7. ↑ "Valgkartet". Valgene i 1814 (in Norwegian). Arkivverket. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  8. ↑ "Om valgene". Valgene i 1814 (in Norwegian). Arkivverket. Retrieved 3 December 2022.

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