Valen Chapel


Valen Chapel is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sveio Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Valevåg. It one of the churches for the Valestrand og Førde parish which is part of the Sunnhordland prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The small, brown, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1707 using designs by an unknown architect. The church seats about 50 people.
The small church is now only used for special situations, although it sits on a church site that has been in use for centuries.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1350, but it was built sometime before then. That old stave church was torn down in 1707 and a new church was rebuilt on the same site. That church was in use until 1872 when it was replaced by the much larger Valestrand Church, built just south of Valevåg. The old church was then extensively renovated and turned into a schoolhouse. The school operated in the building until 1938. After that time, the building was renovated again and re-consecrated on 31 July 1949 and is now known as Valen Chapel.