Skjervøy Church


Skjervøy Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Skjervøy Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Skjervøy on the island of Skjervøya. It is the main church for the Skjervøy parish which is part of the Nord-Troms prosti in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland. The white, wooden church was built in 1728 to replace an older church building. It is the oldest preserved wooden church in the whole diocese, so it is a protected historic site. It was designed by the architect Hans Michelsen in a combination of the common long church style and cruciform style. The church seats about 225 people.

History

The Sami missionary Thomas von Westen started this church in the 1720s. He commissioned Hans Michelsen to build the church. The church was to serve the coastal Sami people and Kven people inhabiting the parish, which at that time encompassed most of Northern Troms county. In that time, attending church was required and if you were absent, you could be fined. Since the parish was so large, many small cabins were built near the shoreline by the church so that people could travel to the church on Saturday, stay over night there and then attend church on Sunday. This in effect made the churchyard a major community gathering center each week.

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