Hægebostad Church

Hægebostad Church (Norwegian: Hægebostad kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Hægebostad Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Snartemo. It is the church for the Hægebostad 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 octagonal design in 1844 using plans drawn up by the parish priest Nils Christian Hald with some help from the national architect Christian H. Grosch. The church seats about 450 people.[1][2]

View of the church around the year 1900.

Hægebostad Church
Hægebostad kirke
View of the church
58.340307°N 07.205896°E
Location	Hægebostad Municipality, Agder
Country	Norway
Denomination	Church of Norway
Churchmanship	Evangelical Lutheran
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	Middle ages
Consecrated	1844
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Nils Christian Hald and Christian H. Grosch
Architectural type	Octagonal
Completed	1844
Specifications
Capacity	450
Materials	Wood
Administration
Parish	Hægebostad
Deanery	Lister og Mandal prosti
Diocese	Agder og Telemark
Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site
Type	Church
Status	Listed
ID	84687

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1445, but the church was not new at that time. That old church was likely a stave church. The medieval church was torn down in 1629 and replaced with a wooden long church. This timber-framed building had a small tower and small windows. It sat in a similar position to the location of the present-day church.[3]

In 1814, this church served as an election church (Norwegian: valgkirke).[4] 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.[4][5]

By the 1840s, the church had become too small for the congregation, so a new church was constructed on the same site. Wood from the old church was reused in the new church which was completed in 1844. The new church had an octagonal design.[6][3]

See also

• List of churches in Agder og Telemark

References

1. "Hægebostad kirke". Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
2. "Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker" (in Norwegian). KirkeKonsulenten.no. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
3. "Hægebostad kirkested" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
4. "Valgkirkene". LokalHistorieWiki.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 30 December 2020.
5. "Om valgene". Valgene i 1814 (in Norwegian). Arkivverket. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
6. Hægebostad menighetsråd (1994). Hægebostad kyrkje 150 år (in Norwegian). Kristiansand S, Norge: Edgar Høgfelt AS.