Norwegian Lutheran Church (Grytviken)


The Norwegian Anglican Church, sometimes known as the Whalers Church, and as the Norwegian Lutheran Church, and casually as the Grytviken Church, was built in 1913 in Grytviken, South Georgia. The church was part of the Church of Norway for a century from 1913 to 2013. It was formally handed over to the Church of England in 2013, and is now part of the Anglican Communion Diocese of the Falkland Islands.
The church had a cameo appearance in the 2006 animated film Happy Feet.

History and architecture

The Neo-Gothic church was pre-built in Norway and erected in Grytviken by whalers led by Carl Anton Larsen around 1912–1913 and consecrated on Christmas Day 1913.
The church consists of a single nave leading to a small altar. A small library is attached to the side near the altar. Inside, worshippers are seated on long wood benches. The floor's dark wood planks contrast with the white walls and ceiling.
The church, one of the most southern churches on earth, was consecrated on Christmas Day in 1913. In 1922, a funeral service for Sir Ernest Shackleton was conducted in this church before his burial amongst 64 others in the church cemetery. The cemetery, located approximately to the south on the other end of Grytviken Harbour, also holds empty graves for lost whalers at sea.

Pastor

The church was led by Kristen Løken, from 1913 to 1914. Løken was born in 1885 in Lillehammer and was made Pastor of South Georgia and arrived in 1912 to take his post. He was responsible for supervising the building of the church building as well. Løken left his church in 1914 and was the only pastor for this church. Løken died in 1975.

Grytviken Cemetery

The Grytviken Cemetery, associated with the church, is located about away to the south. It predates the church, first accepting whalers' graves before 1902. It holds 64 graves, including nine victims of a 1912 typhoid epidemic, Ernest Shackleton, the ashes of fellow polar explorer Frank Wild which were interred in 2011, and Félix Artuso, an Argentinian submarine officer who was killed in the 1982 British recapture of South Georgia from Argentina.

Restoration and maintenance

In April 1982, during the invasion of South Georgia by Argentinian military forces, members of a British Antarctic Survey team were invited by British marines to take shelter in the church.
After years of abandonment and weathering the harsh elements of the region, the church was renovated by the keepers of South Georgia Museum and volunteers in 1996-1998, and now serves for occasional church services and marriage ceremonies.