Nesseby Church

Nesseby Church (Norwegian: Nesseby kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Nesseby Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Nesseby, overlooking the Varangerfjorden. It is the church for the Nesseby parish which is part of the Indre Finnmark prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland. The prayer books in this church are in the Northern Sami language, since that is the predominant language for the people of the area. The church is one of the few old buildings left in Finnmark (the retreating German army burned most at the end of World War II). Adjacent to the church is a small storage building that is regarded by some as the oldest building in the Varanger area, dating from the 18th century.[1][2]

Nesseby Church
Nesseby kirke
View of the church
70.1449425°N 28.8602498°E / 70.1449425; 28.8602498
LocationNesseby Municipality,
Troms og Finnmark
CountryNorway
DenominationChurch of Norway
ChurchmanshipEvangelical Lutheran
History
StatusParish church
Founded1719
Consecrated17 Aug 1858
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architect(s)Christian Heinrich Grosch
Architectural typeLong church
Completed1858 (1858)
Specifications
Capacity250
MaterialsWood
Administration
DioceseNord-Hålogaland
DeaneryIndre Finnmark prosti
ParishNesseby
TypeChurch
StatusListed
ID85124

History

The first church in Nesseby was located in Angsnes and it was built in 1719 by Thomas von Westen. It was consecrated on 11 November 1719. The church was poorly maintained and it had been built on the south side of the fjord, while most development was occurring on the north side of the fjord. That church was torn down in 1746. Soon after, a new church was built at the present church site, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of Angsnes on the north side of the fjord. The new church was consecrated in 1747. Some of the materials in the church such as the altar and pulpit were reused from the old chapel in Kiberg. In 1854, the old church was torn down and construction immediately began on a new church on the same site. The new wooden building was designed by Christian Heinrich Grosch and it had seats for 250 people. It was consecrated on 17 August 1858. The new church has a nave that measures 12 by 9.1 metres (39 ft × 30 ft) and a choir that measures 5.1 by 5.1 metres (17 ft × 17 ft). The church has a 22-metre (72 ft) tall tower above the main entrance. The church was fully restored in 1983.[3]

Design

The church has a narrow choir whose floor is higher than that of the nave. There are sacristies beside the choir, which has a lower ceiling, of a type called a "saddle ceiling", than that of the nave. The roof is supported by wooden columns which separate the central nave from two side-naves. This style was used in churches designed by Grosch in the 1850s. The nave is also distinguished from the two side-naves by the fact that the latter have lower ceilings, a feature which, apparently,[4] Grosch derived from German church design.[5][6]

  • View of the church on the little peninsula
    View of the church on the little peninsula
  • View of the church from a distance
    View of the church from a distance

See also

References
  1. "Nesseby Church". VisitNorway.com.
  2. "Unjárgga/Nesseby – Nessby kirke (church)". Travel-Finnmark.no. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  3. "Nesseby kirke" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  4. "Nesseby kirke". University of Tromsø - Architecture guide to Northern Norway and Svalbard.
  5. "Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker" (in Norwegian). KirkeKonsulenten.no. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  6. "Nesseby kirke" (in Norwegian). Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 19 March 2013.

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