Ølmheim Church


Ølmheim Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sogndal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Nornes, on the northern shore of the Sogndalsfjorden. It is the church for the Norum parish which is part of the Sogn prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1863 using designs by the architect Christian Henrik Grosch. The church seats about 230 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1308, but the church was likely built in the 13th century. The first church here was a stave church which was in use until 1700 or 1701 when it burned down. A new cruciform church was built in 1703 to replace it. Over time, the new church was too small for the congregation, so in 1863 a new church was constructed about to the west of the old church. After the new building was completed, the old church was torn down.
On 15 January 1989, lightning struck the tower and it started burning. The fire department was alerted and arrived quickly enough that they had extinguished the fire before the whole church was destroyed. The tower was re-built in the autumn of the same year, and it looks the same as before.

Name

Historically, the church had been called Ylmheim Church, after the name of the nearby farm. However, starting around the year 1840, the church and the parish were named Norum. In 2015, the church was renamed using the historic Ølmheim name, but the parish name remained as Norum.