| The Tromsdalen Church | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | church, village hall |
| Location | Tromsø, Norway |
| Construction started | 1 April 1964 [1] |
| Completed | 1965 |
| Inaugurated | 19 November 1965 [2] |
| Cost | NOK 4,169,815 [3] |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Cast-in-place Aluminium-coated concrete panels [4] |
| Design and construction | |
| Client | Tromsø Municipality |
| Main contractor | Ing. F. Selmer A/S Tromsø [5] |
| Architect | Jan Inge Hovig |
| Website | |
| http://www.ishavskatedralen.no | |
The Tromsdalen Church (Tromsdalen Kirke), which is more commonly known as The Arctic Cathedral (Ishavskatedralen, literally "The Cathedral of the Arctic Sea"), is a church in Tromsø, Norway, built in 1965. The church is a parish church and not, in fact, a cathedral.
The church was designed by Jan Inge Hovig, and its building materials consist mainly of concrete. Because of the church's distinct look and situation, it has often been called "the opera house of Norway", likening it to the famous Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. The church is probably the most famous landmark in Tromsø, although Tromsø does have another church of interest, the Tromsø Cathedral, which is noted for being the only wooden cathedral in Norway.
In 1972 it got a glass mosaic added to the eastern side, from the hands of Victor Sparre. The church got an organ built by Grönlunds Orgelbyggeri in 2005, with 3 manuals, pedal, 42 stops and 2940 pipes.[6] It replaced the old opus nr. 12 organ delivered by Vestlandske Orgelverksted, Hareid, which had 22 voices and 124 keys.