Country Norway Churchmanship Evangelical Lutheran Consecrated 14 Sept 1898 Capacity 200 Architect Jacob Wilhelm Nordan | Denomination Church of Norway Former name(s) Norddalsfjord Chapel Opened 1898 Status Parish church | |
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Location Flora Municipality,
Sogn og Fjordane Diocese Lutheran Diocese of Bjørgvin Similar Stavang Church, Bø Church, Holmedal Church, Ortnevik Church, Høyanger Church | ||
Nordal Church (Norwegian: Nordal kyrkje) is a parish church in Flora Municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located in the small village of Norddalsfjord, and it serves the northeastern part of the municipality. The church is part of the Nordal parish in the Sunnfjord deanery in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in 1898 by the architect Jacob Wilhelm Nordan. The church was consecrated on 14 September 1898 by the Dean Andreas D. Jespersen. It seats about 200 people.
History
The people of Norddalsfjorden had for a long time belonged to the parish of Svanøy, which meant an extremely long and strenuous way to get to church. From the upper parts of the valley of Grøndalen down to the fjord it was a distance of 20 kilometres (12 mi) and five lakes had to be crossed by boat on the way. From the fjord to Svanøy Church it was another 40 kilometres (25 mi), which took about four hours by row boat, if the weather was fine. They had to go all the way to the Svanøy Church, not only for ordinary worship services, but also for baptism ceremonies, weddings, and funerals.
In 1887, the local residents began asking for their own church, and two years later the decision was made to get started on the project. The people in the valley had raised 2000 kr, and the same sum was allocated by the Norwegian Parliament and the municipality of Kinn. The "Kinn Sparebank" (savings bank) also donated 1500 kr, so the total sum raised was 7500 kr which was enough to cover the construction costs. At first the parish vicar was somewhat reluctant to have a new church building because this implied that he would have to travel more frequently. Furthermore, when the church was completed, he tried to confine the services to the summer months, but the parish council objected. In the first years, services were held five times a year, preferably in the winter. Nowadays services are held fourteen times a year.