Sokndal Church

Sokndal Church
Sokndal kirke
View of the church
58°20′43″N6°17′41″E / 58.345351°N 06.294643°E / 58.345351; 06.294643 Coordinates: 58°20′43″N6°17′41″E / 58.345351°N 06.294643°E / 58.345351; 06.294643
Location	Sokndal Municipality, Rogaland
Country	Norway
Denomination	Church of Norway
Churchmanship	Evangelical Lutheran
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	13th century
Consecrated	8 July 1807
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architectural type	Cruciform
Style	Louis XVI
Completed	1803(219 years ago) (1803)
Specifications
Capacity	800
Materials	Wood
Administration
Parish	Sokndal
Deanery	Dalane prosti
Diocese	Stavanger bispedømme
Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site
Type	Church
Status	Automatically protected
ID	85509

Sokndal Church (Norwegian : Sokndal kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sokndal Municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Hauge. It is the main church for the Sokndal parish which is part of the Dalane prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Stavanger. The white, wooden church was built in a cruciform design and in a Louis XVI style in 1803 using designs by an unknown architect. The church seats about 800 people. ^{[1] [2]}

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1307, but the church was not new at that time. Records from the 1600s refer to the church as Sankt Jakobs kirke, so it was likely dedicated to Saint Jacob. The medieval church stood on the site for centuries and over time it was renovated, repaired, and rebuilt. Records show that from 1734 to 1740, the church underwent an extensive renovation project to repair the very old church. It is likely that by then the church bared little resemblance to the original church but rather looked like a patchwork of old an old stave church and newer timber-framed construction. Around the turn of the 19th century, the old church was torn down and a new building was constructed on the same site. The new cruciform church was partially completed in 1803 when it was put into use. It was finished over the next four years and it was consecrated on 8 July 1807. ^{[3] [4]}

In 1814, this church served as an election church (Norwegian : valgkirke). ^[5] 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. ^{[5] [6]}

Media gallery

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See also

• List of churches in Rogaland

References

1. "Sokndal kirke". Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
2. "Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker" (in Norwegian). KirkeKonsulenten.no. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
3. "Sokndal kirke" (in Norwegian). Sokndal kirkelige fellesråd. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
4. "Sokndal kirkested" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage . Retrieved 13 September 2020.
5. "Valgkirkene". LokalHistorieWiki.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 7 February 2021.
6. "Om valgene". Valgene i 1814 (in Norwegian). Arkivverket. Retrieved 7 February 2021.