Old Gildeskål Church


Old Gildeskål Church is a preserved parish church of the Church of Norway in Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just north of the village of Inndyr. Before 1881, it was the main church for the Gildeskål parish which is part of the Bodø domprosti in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland. The white, stone church was built in a long church style in the 12th century. The church seats about 275 people.

History

The stone church was built around the year 1130. The pulpit was painted by Gottfried Ezekiel. He received a commission as a painter in Bergen during 1744 and starting in 1751 he arrived in northern Norway, where he painted a number of church altarpieces. Gottfried Ezekiel also painted the altarpiece that stands today in the new Gildeskål Church.
In 1851, a new law was passed that said that all rural churches had to be able to fit at least 30% of the parish members in the church building. Since this church could only seat about 275 people, it was too small, therefore a new church had to be built for the parish. It was decided that the new church would be built on the same site, just west of the old church. The new Gildeskål Church was completed in 1881 and it seated about 750 people.

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