Norddal Church

Norddal Church (Norwegian: Norddal kyrkje), also known as Dale Church (Norwegian: Dale kyrkje), is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Norddal Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the village of Norddal, on the south side of the Norddalsfjorden. It is one of the two churches for the Norddal parish which is part of the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre. The white, wooden church was built in an octagonal style in 1784 by the architect Ole Larssen Døving. The church seats about 300 people.[1][2]

Not to be confused with Nordal Church in Flora municipality, Norway.

Norddal Church Dale Church
Norddal kyrkje / Dale kyrkje
View of the church
Norddal Church Dale Church Location of the church Show map of Møre og Romsdal Norddal Church Dale Church Norddal Church Dale Church (Norway) Show map of Norway
62.2560°N 7.2371°E / 62.2560; 7.2371
Location	Fjord Municipality, Møre og Romsdal
Country	Norway
Denomination	Church of Norway
Churchmanship	Evangelical Lutheran
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	15th century
Consecrated	1784
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Ole Larssen Døving
Architectural type	Long church
Completed	1782
Specifications
Capacity	300
Materials	Wood
Administration
Parish	Norddal
Deanery	Nordre Sunnmøre prosti
Diocese	Møre

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1432, but the church was already existing on that date. Not much is known about this medieval stave church. In the early 1600s, the old church was torn down and replaced by moving the old Sylte Church around the year 1620 from the village of Sylte on the north shore of Norddalsfjorden to the village of Norddal.[3][4]

In 1782, the old church from Sylte was torn down and replaced with a new log building. It was completed and consecrated in 1784. Four columns in the nave support the eight-sided roof with a tower on top. Norddal Church is prototypical for the octagonal churches in Møre og Romsdal county and the Nordfjord district to the south.[5] The altarpiece was taken from the previous church, dates from around 1510, and resembles altarpieces produced by Bernt Notke in Lübeck.[6] There was no professional architect for the church, instead master builder Ole Larsen Døving, a local farmer, designed the church after returning from a trip to Trondheim. The master builder probably used the Hospitalskirken or possibly Bakke Church as models.[3][4]

The priest Johan Christopher Haar Daae served at the church from 1804 to 1820. The 40 victims of the 1934 Tafjorden landslide and subsequent tsunami are buried in the church cemetery.

Media gallery

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See also

• List of churches in Møre

References

1. "Norddal kyrkje". Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
2. "Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker" (in Norwegian). KirkeKonsulenten.no. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
3. Tafjord, Leonhard; Kleiva, Ivar (1976). Norddal Bygdebøker. IV: Grunn og gror. Kultursoge. Valldal. ISBN 9788271010348.
4. "Norddal kyrkjestad" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
5. Vreim, Halvor (1947). Norsk trearkitektur. Oslo: Gyldendal.
6. "Norddal Church". Kulturnett.no. Archived from the original on 2006-11-06. Retrieved 2013-03-24.