Holsen Church


Holsen Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sunnfjord Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Holsen. It is one of the two churches for the Holsen og Haukedalen parish which is part of the Sunnfjord prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1861 using designs by the architect Jacob Wilhelm Nordan. The church seats about 200 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1330. This medieval stave church was located about southeast of the present church site. The nearly 500-year-old church was one of the last stave churches that was still standing in the Sunnfjord district when it was torn down around 1722. A new timber-framed church was built about to the northwest where the new church would be safer from flooding. The new church sits near the mouth of the river Norddøla and the lake Holsavatnet. In 1861, the small timber-framed church was torn down and a new church was built on the same site. The new church was consecrated on 11 December 1861 by the local Dean Johan Christie.
From the 13th century until the 17th century, the people of the nearby Haukedalen valley also belonged to the Holsen Church parish, before they had their own church: Haukedalen Church.

Building

The church has a symmetrical appearance, with a steeple in the middle. The porch to the west and the vestry to the east are equal in size. The interior walls are not painted, there is no gallery, and the ceiling is flat and painted blue. On each long side there are three large windows. The church remained unchanged until 1936, when the ceiling, mouldings, altar rail, and pulpit were given new colours. Angular braces, which supported the ceiling and the walls, were removed, and the church interior became more open. Behind the simple wooden cross on the altar a canopy with stars against a blue background was installed.