Gamle Aker kirke
The Evangelical Lutheran Gamle Aker kirke is the oldest building in Norway's capital Oslo . It is a Romanesque church, dates from the 11th century and is still used for church services.
The address is Akersbakken 26 , and the church is near the northeast corner of Vår Frelsers Gravlund cemetery, north of central Oslo. It is a basilica with a choir , chapel , transept and apse . Limestone from nearby was used as a building material. It is the parish church of the Gamle Aker parish, established in 1861. Located on Aker, one of Oslo's oldest estates, it was first mentioned in 1080 and was probably owned by King Olav III. built. Between 1186 and the Reformation she belonged to the convent of the nuns of Nonneseter . In 1587 it came into the possession of Akershus Fortress and between 1723 and 1849 it was privately owned. It was given to the city of Aker in 1849 and to the city of Christiania in 1852.
The church was damaged by several fires. Since one such event in 1703, the condition of the tower and the interior deteriorated. There was a decision to demolish it, but this was averted after the city intervened. The restoration of the exterior, including a new tower, was carried out by German architects Heinrich Ernst Schirmer and Wilhelm von Hanno in 1861. It took until the 20th century for the interior to be repaired and it took place between 1950 and 1955.
At the site of the church there is said to have been a silver mine before its construction, which remained active from the beginning of the Viking Age. This mine is mentioned in the Historia Norwegiæ in 1170 and perhaps the reason that there were legends about treasures and fantastic events on the site.
The cemetery has been in use since the Middle Ages, and its last additions took place in 1918 and 1929. Currently only members of the community can be buried here. Prominent among the buried are:
- Envold de Falsen (1755–1808), lawyer and writer
- Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771–1824), Lutheran preacher, founder of the Haugians
- Christopher Hansteen (1784–1873), astronomer
Queen Maud's sarcophagus was secretly buried in the church during the Second World War .
literature
- Ekroll, Øystein, Stige, Morten, Havran, Jiři, Middelalder i Stein , Volume 1 of the Kirker i Norge series , Oslo 2000, pp. 84–86, ISBN 82-91399-09-3
- Skjelbæk, Sverre (ed.) Gamle Aker kirke, Festschrift for the 900th anniversary of the church , Oslo 1980, ISBN 82-90359-01-2
Web links
Coordinates: 59 ° 55 ′ 25 ″ N , 10 ° 44 ′ 50 ″ E