Old Moster Church

Old Moster Church (Norwegian: Moster gamle kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Bømlo Municipality in Vestland county, Norway, and it is one of the oldest churches in all of Norway. It is located in the village of Mosterhamn on the island of Moster. It used to be the main church for the Moster parish which is part of the Sunnhordland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, stone church was built in a long church style in the 12th century using designs by an unknown architect. The church seats about 80 people.[1][2]

Old Moster Church
Moster gamle kyrkje
View of the church
Old Moster Church Location of the church Show map of Vestland Old Moster Church Old Moster Church (Norway) Show map of Norway
59.7011°N 5.3817°E / 59.7011; 5.3817
Location	Bømlo, Vestland
Country	Norway
Denomination	Church of Norway
Previous denomination	Catholic Church
Churchmanship	Evangelical Lutheran
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	c. 995
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Unknown
Architectural type	Long church
Completed	c. 1150
Specifications
Capacity	80
Materials	Stone
Administration
Parish	Moster
Deanery	Sunnhordland prosti
Diocese	Bjørgvin bispedømme
Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site
Type	Church
Status	Automatically protected
ID	84979

History

The Old Moster Church has a long and important history in Norway. According to tradition and the historian Snorri Sturluson, Norwegian King Olav Tryggvason built a church at Mosterhamn in the year 998 when Christianity first introduced to Norway. Around the year 1024, the King Olaf II of Norway (later Saint Olaf) held a thing at Moster where the oldest Christian law was introduced in Norway, converting the kingdom to Christianity. The current stone church was probably built around the year 1150 on the site of the original wooden church. The church is protected and owned by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments. The old church only seats about 80 people, so in the mid-19th century, the church had become too small for the congregation, so a new Moster Church was built nearby in 1874. This church was then turned into a museum. It was restored by Peter Andreas Blix in 1896 to look like it historically did. The church is no longer used by the parish for regular worship, but it is still consecrated for use and so it is used for special occasions.[3][4][5]

Design

The church has a square choir and a rectangular nave and with an entrance in the western wall of the nave and one in the southern wall of the choir. The roof structures were replaced in the 18th century.[5] The church is mainly built of soapstone from a quarry near the village of Lykling.

Media gallery

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  Altarpiece
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  Interior
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  Interior
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  Exterior
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  Exterior
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  Exterior (from 1926)
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  Exterior

See also

• List of churches in Bjørgvin

References

1. "Moster gamle kyrkje". Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
2. "Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker" (in Norwegian). KirkeKonsulenten.no. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
3. "Kirker i Hordaland fylke" (in Norwegian). DIS-Hordaland. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
4. "Moster gamle kyrkje" (in Norwegian). Bømlo kyrkjelege fellesråd. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
5. "Moster gamle kyrkjestad" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 27 May 2020.