Hylestad Church


Hylestad Church is a parish church in Valle municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Rysstad. The church is part of the Valle og Hyllestad parish in the Otredal deanery in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark. The white, wooden, octagonal church was built in 1838 by Anders Thorsen Syrtveit using plans by the famous architect Hans Linstow.

History

The church is the third church to be built in Hylestad, although the previous churches were not built in the present location. The first was the medieval Hylestad Stave Church which was torn down in the 1600s, and the second one was taken down in the 1830s due to deterioration of the building. The second church was located at Bjørgum on the eastern shore of the river Otra, but the majority of the municipal residents lived on the west side, so the new church was built on the west side, just alongside the local post road, now Norwegian National Road 9. The present church seats about 200 people.

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