Nes (Eysturoy)

The Nes kommuna on the Faroe Islands map

Nes [ neːs ] ( Danish name : Næs ) is a place in the Faroe Islands in the south of Eysturoy . There is another Faroese place with this name on the island of Suðuroy . See: Nes (Vágur)

• Population: 246 (January 1, 2007)
• Postal code: FO-655
• Commune : Nes kommuna

The municipality of Nes had 1195 inhabitants in 2002. The neighboring towns of Saltnes and Toftir belong to it , with Toftir being the largest town in the municipality.

The place Nes is located in the south of the east island Eysturoy on its west coast on the long fjord Skálafjørður . Due to the strategically important location at the entrance to the fjord, the British stationed two heavy cannons here during their occupation of the Faroe Islands in World War II to protect the important oil depot against German warships. One of the two cannons is still preserved. To protect against submarines, the entrance to the fjord was secured with a steel net that was stretched underwater to the other bank.

church

The typical Faroese wooden church from 1843 in Nes.

It is not possible to say with certainty how many churches there once were in Nes and when the first church was built. The first church mentioned in documents was built between 1679 and 1691 when Jacob Christensøn Klinte was pastor in Eysturoy. However, this church was hardly the first in Nes. Written evidence that pastors have lived in Nes since 1541 suggests that there was also a church there. In the first entry in the account book from the 4. March 1691 states that I had built the church ... . This could perhaps give an indication of the construction date.

The records show that seven years passed before the church received its tower, presumably because the funds for it were not available. The costs associated with building the tower were around a third of the total construction costs. The relatively high price of the tower is due to the fact that it was made entirely of wood, while several of the outer walls were made of stone, which was easier and cheaper to get. This church stood until 1761 .

A new church was built the following year. This time wood was planned as the building material. This church could be the first wooden church outside of Tórshavn , where a wooden church was built in 1609 (see Tórshavn Cathedral ). When the church was demolished in 1843, all usable building materials were taken by boat to Saltnes, where a new school was built.

The current church in Nes was built in 1843 in the same place as the previous churches. It was built when Christian Benedictus Garde was pastor in Eusturoy and provost in the Faroe Islands. It is one of the typical Faroese wooden churches that are still preserved today. Today it has become much too small that it no longer serves as a parish church for Nes-Toftir. The ultra-modern Fríðrikskirkjan in Toftir has been taking on this task since 1994 .

The old church is named after the provost and politician Fríðrikur Petersen , who lived in Nes. The old parish of Nes was the provost's seat in the Faroe Islands for several years. The provost lived in Nes for more than half the time the Faroese provost was in existence. It was also Petersen's native parish, because he came from the neighboring town of Saltnes .

Web links

Commons : Nes  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Faroeislands.dk: Nes (in English, info and photos)

Coordinates: 62 ° 4 ′  N , 6 ° 42 ′  W