Vågan Church


Vågan Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Vågan Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Kabelvåg on the island of Austvågøya. It is the church for the Vågan parish which is part of the Lofoten prosti in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland. The yellow, wooden church was built in a cruciform style in 1898 by the architect Carl J. Bergstrøm. The church seats about 1,200 people, making it the largest wooden building in Northern Norway.

History

This has been a church site since the 12th century. Lofoten's first church was built here during the time of King Øystein Magnusson. Five or six different churches have been built on this very location throughout the last 900 years. One former church was moved to Værøya in 1799. The present church was built in 1898 to be large enough to accommodate all the fishermen who came to Kabelvåg each season. It was nicknamed the "Lofoten Cathedral" by Eivind Berggrav, the Bishop of the Diocese of Oslo in 1929. The church was designed in Gothic revival style by the architect Carl Julius Bergstrøm.
When the Lofoten Cathedral was completed, the "old church" was still located just across the road, until it was demolished in the summer of 1900.

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