Falnes Church (Norwegian: Falnes kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Karmøy Municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the town of Skudeneshavn on the southern tip of the island of Karmøy. It is the church for the Falnes parish which is part of the Karmøy prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Stavanger. The white, wooden church was built in a long church design in 1851 using designs by the architect Hans Linstow. The church seats about 600 people.[1][2]

Falnes Church
Falnes kirke
View of the church
Map
59°09′04″N 5°16′52″E / 59.151207°N 5.28124°E / 59.151207; 5.28124
LocationKarmøy Municipality,
Rogaland
CountryNorway
DenominationChurch of Norway
ChurchmanshipEvangelical Lutheran
History
StatusParish church
FoundedMiddle Ages
Consecrated1 Oct 1851
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architect(s)Hans Linstow
Architectural typeLong church
Completed1851 (173 years ago) (1851)
Specifications
Capacity600
MaterialsWood
Administration
DioceseStavanger bispedømme
DeaneryKarmøy prosti
ParishFalnes
TypeChurch
StatusProtected
ID84113

History

edit
 
Side view of the church

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1620, but it was likely built much earlier. The medieval church was probably a stave church and it was located about 650 metres (0.40 mi) east of the present site of the church. The old church was torn down in 1642, and over the next four years, a new church was constructed on the same site.[3]

In 1814, this church served as an election church (Norwegian: valgkirke).[4] 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.[4][5]

In 1851, a new church was constructed about 650 metres (0.40 mi) to the west so that it would be much closer to the growing village of Skudeneshavn. The new church was consecrated on 1 October 1851. After the new church was completed, the old church was torn down and its materials were sold at auction.[6][7]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Falnes kirke". Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker" (in Norwegian). KirkeKonsulenten.no. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Falnes gamle kirkested - Alvaberg" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Valgkirkene". LokalHistorieWiki.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Om valgene". Valgene i 1814 (in Norwegian). Arkivverket. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Falnes kirkested" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Falnes kirke". Norges-Kirker.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 6 February 2021.