Bygstad Church


Bygstad Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sunnfjord Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Bygstad. It one of the four churches for the Gaular parish which is part of the Sunnfjord prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1845 using designs by the architect Hans Linstow. The church seats about 300 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1330, but it was not new at that time. In the 1840s, the old stave church was decaying and in need of extensive repairs. It was decided to build a new church, a little west of the old church. After building the new church, the old church was torn down. There was some controversy over this plan, because some wanted to restore the old church. The new church, which has 300 seats, was consecrated 2 November 1845 by the local dean, Johan Grønnlund. It was built using architectural drawings by Hans Linstow.
In 1939, the new church was moved from its original site at Eide to the Bygstad farm and it was rebuilt by architect K.W. Essendrop. The newly rebuilt church was consecrated on 11 October 1939 by Bishop Andreas Fleischer.