Bakke Church (Agder)

Bakke Church (Norwegian: Bakke kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in the large Flekkefjord Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Sira. It is the church for the Bakke parish which is part of the Lister og Mandal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark. The white, wooden church was built in a cruciform design in 1670 using plans drawn up by an unknown architect. The church seats about 400 people.[1][2]

Bakke Church
Bakke kirke
View of the church
58.413899°N 06.658778°E
Location	Flekkefjord Municipality, Agder
Country	Norway
Denomination	Church of Norway
Churchmanship	Evangelical Lutheran
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	Middle ages
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architectural type	Cruciform
Completed	1670
Specifications
Capacity	400
Materials	Wood
Administration
Parish	Bakke
Deanery	Lister og Mandal prosti
Diocese	Agder og Telemark
Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site
Type	Church
Status	Automatically protected
ID	83841

History

View of the church around the year 1900.

Early records show that there was a stave church located at Bakke during the middle ages, but not much is known of that church. In 1668, the choir of the old church was torn down and replaced with a new timber-framed structure. Shortly afterwards, the nave of the old church was torn down and replaced with a new timber-framed structure. After these two renovations, the entire building was essentially brand new. In 1757, the church was significantly renovated and enlarged. In 1806-1807, the church was again renovated by removing the roof, raising the heights of the walls and rebuilding the roof.[3][4]

In 1814, this church served as an election church (Norwegian: valgkirke).[5] Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in Eidsvoll later that year.[5][6]

See also

• List of churches in Agder og Telemark

References

1. "Bakke kirke, Sirnes". Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
2. "Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker" (in Norwegian). KirkeKonsulenten.no. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
3. "Bakke kirkested" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
4. "Bakke kirke". Flekkefjord kirkelige fellesråd (in Norwegian). Retrieved 26 December 2020.
5. "Valgkirkene". LokalHistorieWiki.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 30 December 2020.
6. "Om valgene". Valgene i 1814 (in Norwegian). Arkivverket. Retrieved 30 December 2020.