Hove Church
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hove ( norweg. Hove kyrkje ) in Vik in the Norwegian province ( Fylke ) Vestland was built around the year 1170 and is one of the oldest buildings in Norway. The name comes from the Hove farm .
history
The construction of the simple sacred building is dated to around 1170. According to various historians, the church may have been built as a private church by a landowner. The current church may be the successor to an even earlier church. Overall, only a few facts have survived about the construction of the church. However, there is a legend about the structure:
“A citizen of Hove was sentenced to death for a crime. However, if he could build a stone church within a week, he would be exempt from the sentence. He went to the Hov Hill, where the church is today, and was desperate because of the almost impossible task. A stranger came by and the man sentenced to death told him his story. The stranger promised him help and that the church would be ready in time. He did not want payment if the convict could find out his name by the time the construction work was completed. If he did not succeed in doing this, he would have to come with the stranger. The convict got involved in the trade and tried desperately to find out the name of the stranger. When the workers paid by the stranger were already erecting the tower, the condemned man began to cry in despair. Suddenly he heard a child in the mountains who was crying too. The mother reassured the child with the words "Your father, Ivar Vinkjell, will soon be home again with human flesh". When the man heard this he went back to church. The stranger was just about to fix the top of the church tower. The man went around the church and said, "I think the tip is a little crooked, Ivar Vinkjell." When Vinkjell heard his name he fell from the church tower and died. "
Various grave finds from Roman times suggest that Hove used to be a center of power in Vik.
construction
The west tower of Hove Church is square in plan; the ship a rectangular one. The choir is rectangular with a semicircular apse . The choir has been built of the highest quality. These were soapstone used. The joints are so tight that no lime was necessary. This part of the church was probably built first, possibly by specialists from Bergen . The masonry in the west of the church is made up of much coarser and less worked stones than the eastern part. It is assumed that either simple craftsmen took over the construction or economic reasons played a role.
The west portal is located in the tower front, while the south portal is located to the west in the nave.
Interior
Originally there was a wooden Madonna from the 13th century in the church. It may have been made in Bergen. It is now in the local museum. The rest of the interior was originally extremely simple.
restoration
The architect Peter Andreas Blix (1831–1901) bought the church in 1880 after receiving an offer from a master builder in Vik to buy soapstone. It was soapstone from Hove Church. This had been closed ten years earlier and released for demolition. Blix restored the church after purchasing it with his own financial means. He adhered to his requirement to restore the original condition of the church as detailed as possible. The soapstone needed for the restoration was obtained from the original old soapstone quarry nearby. In the church, Blix removed everything that did not come from the Middle Ages. He provided the walls with patterns from the Middle Ages, wrought-iron chandeliers came to the ceiling and the windows received stained glass. Blix built a large stone tower on top of the old tower base. Before that there was a wooden tower from the 17th century. However, it is unclear whether the church even had a stone tower before. It is possible that the roof was simply continued at the same height above the base of the tower. Blix died in 1901 and was buried under the floor in the church. On his grave plaque it reads: "Out of love for art he rebuilt this place of worship".
The location of the church on the Sognefjord
The church
One of the two entrance portals
The other portal
literature
- M. Blindheim: Gothic Painted Wooden Sculpture in Norway 1220-1350. Oslo 2004, ISBN 8-276-31072-9
- MH Aaraas et al: Hopperstad stavkyrkje. In: På kyrkjeferd i Sogn og Fjordane. Volume 2, Sogn og Fjordane fylkeskommune, 2000, pp. 136-142, ISBN 8-291-72214-5
Web links
Coordinates: 61 ° 4 ′ 18 ″ N , 6 ° 35 ′ 0 ″ E