Fjørtoft Church


Fjørtoft Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the northern side of the small island of Fjørtofta. It is one of the three churches for the Haram og Fjørtoft parish which is part of the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti in the Diocese of Møre. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1878 by the architect Johannes Henrik Nissen. The church seats about 200 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back around the year 1600. The old church bell has an inscription on it and the date 1520, so it is possible that that is when the church was first constructed on the island of Fjørtofta. Local tradition says that the original church was built by a local nobleman who built it to serve the residents of the island. In the 1600s, it was small building serving the 134 people living on the island at that time. Records show that in 1622, the parish priest came to the church to hold worship services once every 15 weeks. In 1659, the church was described as a low, timber-framed building with a peat roof. The church was remodeled and the ceiling height was raised in 1765.
Residents of the island routinely buried their dead in an informal graveyard around the church, but it wasn't until 1810 that the church first received a formal consecrated graveyard. In 1878 a new church was built beside the old one. The old building was torn down after the new one was completed. In 1902, the cemetery was expanded to the east and southeast and a new stone wall with iron gates was added around the church yard.