Vågan Church

Vågan Church ("Lofoten Cathedral")
Vågan kirke ("Lofotkatedralen")

View of the church
Vågan Church ("Lofoten Cathedral")

Location in Nordland

Coordinates: 68°12′57″N 14°29′00″E / 68.2157°N 14.4832°E
Location Vågan, Nordland
Country Norway
Denomination Church of Norway
Churchmanship Evangelical Lutheran
History
Founded 1100s
Consecrated 9 October 1898
Architecture
Status Parish church
Functional status Active
Architect(s) Carl J. Bergstrøm
Completed 1898
Specifications
Capacity 1200
Materials Wood
Administration
Parish Vågan
Deanery Lofoten prosti
Diocese Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland

Vågan Church (Norwegian: Vågan kirke; sometimes called the Lofoten Cathedral) is a parish church in the municipality of Vågan in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Kabelvåg on the island of Austvågøya. The church is part of the Vågan parish in the Lofoten deanery in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland. Seating about 1200 people, this church is the largest wooden building in Northern Norway (north of Trondheim).

History

This has been a church site since the 1100s. Lofoten's first church was built there during the time of King Øystein Magnusson. Five or six different churches have been built on the same area of today's church over the last 900 years. One former church was moved to Værøy in 1799 (see Old Værøy Church). The present church (nicknamed Lofoten Cathedral) was built in 1898 to be large enough to accommodate all the fishermen who came to Kabelvåg each season. The church was designed by Carl J. Bergstrøm in the Gothic revival style. When the Lofoten cathedral was completed, the "old church" was still located just across the road, and that church was demolished in the summer of 1900.[1][2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Vågan kirke" (in Norwegian). Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 2012-07-21.
  2. ↑ "Vågan kirke - Lofotkatedralen" (in Norwegian). Vågan kirkelige fellesråd. Retrieved 2012-07-21.