Ørsta Church


Ørsta Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ørsta Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the village of Ørsta. It is the church for the Ørsta parish which is part of the Søre Sunnmøre prosti in the Diocese of Møre. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1864 by the architects Heinrich Ernst Schirmer and Wilhelm von Hanno. The church seats about 350 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1385, but the church wasn't new at that time. The first church was a stave church. In 1665, the roof was severely damaged due to lightning strikes and a new roof was built. Sometime before 1685, cross-arms were built to transform the church into a cruciform design. In 1864, a new church was constructed about to the northeast and when it was completed, the old church was torn down. Some of the interior furnishings of the old church were reused in the new church. Some of the interior design elements were inspired by the historic Urnes Stave Church.

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