Stange Church

{{short description|Church in Innlandet, Norway}} {{Infobox church |name = Stange Church |full_name = Stange kirke |former_name = |image = Stange kirke (2014).jpg |caption = View of the church{{credit|Jan-Tore Egge}} |website = |coordinates = {{coord|60.7097711478|11.135866641998|region:NO_type:landmark|display=inline,title|format=dms}} |location = [[Stange Municipality]],<br />[[Innlandet]] |country = [[Norway]] |churchmanship = [[Evangelical Lutheran]] |denomination = [[Church of Norway]] |previous_denomination = [[Catholic Church]] |diocese = [[Diocese of Hamar|Hamar bispedømme]] |deanery = [[Hamar domprosti]] |parish = Stange |status = [[Parish church]] |functional_status = Active |founded = 12th century |consecrated = 13th century |completed = c. {{Start date and age|p=y|1250|br=yes}} |closed = |events = |architect = |architectural_type = [[Churches in Norway#Floor plan|Cruciform]] |style = |materials = Stone |capacity = 400 |embedded = {{Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site |embed = yes |Type = Church |Status = Automatically protected |ID = 85547 }} }}

'''Stange Church''' ({{langx|no|Stange kirke}}) is a [[parish church]] of the [[Church of Norway]] in [[Stange Municipality]] in [[Innlandet]] county, [[Norway]]. It is located about {{convert|2|km}} west of the village of [[Stangebyen]]. It is the church for the Stange [[parish]] which is part of the [[Hamar domprosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Hamar]]. The white, stone church was built in a partial [[Churches in Norway#Floor plan|cruciform]] design in the middle of the 13th century using plans drawn up by an unknown [[architect]]. The church seats about 400 people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stange kirke |url=https://kirkesok.no/kirke/041700101 |access-date=2022-01-04 |publisher=Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker |url=http://www.kirkekonsulenten.no/kirker.htm |access-date=2022-01-04 |publisher=KirkeKonsulenten.no |language=Norwegian}}</ref>

==History== The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1225 when it was mentioned in the book ''[[Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar]]''. The first church in Stange was a stone building that was constructed during the 12th century. There is some evidence that a wooden [[post church]] was on the site during the 11th century. This is based on the fact that in 1986, an archaeologist found graves on the site that are older than the 12th century church. Around the middle of the 13th century, the old church was deemed to be too small for the parish, so a new church was to be built on the same site. Construction seems to have started with the [[Choir (architecture)|choir]], so that the interruption in church activities should be as short as possible, and the new church was built around the old one. The new church was a [[long church]] with a rectangular [[nave]] measuring about {{convert|21x15|m}} and a smaller choir measuring about {{convert|11x9|m}}. A [[sacristy]] on the north side of the choir was built during the 14th century.<ref name="kms">{{Cite web |title=Stange kirkested |url=http://www.kulturminnesok.no/kulturminnesok/kulturminne/?LOK_ID=85547 |access-date=2022-01-04 |publisher=[[Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage]] |language=Norwegian}}</ref><ref name="NK">{{Cite web |title=Stange kirke |url=https://www.norske-kirker.net/home/hedmark/stange-kirke/ |access-date=2022-01-04 |website=Norges-Kirker.no |language=Norwegian}}</ref>

On 17 July 1620, the church was struck by lightning and it burned the roof and most of the interior furnishings. Thus, the medieval interior was destroyed, and much of what we see today is a [[baroque]] interior from the 17th century and early 18th century. The church was rebuilt quickly after the fire and a small tower was built on the roof of the nave. In 1703, a large [[transept]] extension was added to the north of the [[nave]] so that the church has been given a kind of T-shape or a partial [[cruciform]] design. The new wing is referred as the New Church ({{langx|no|Nykirken}}). In 1772, the tower was rebuilt with a much taller and larger tower. It is said to be Norway's tallest cantilevered wooden construction for that time period.<ref name="kms" /><ref name="NK" />

In 1814, this church served as an [[election church]] ({{langx|no|valgkirke}}).<ref name="lhw">{{Cite web |title=Valgkirkene |url=https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/wiki/Valgkirkene |access-date=2022-01-04 |website=LokalHistorieWiki.no |language=Norwegian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Valgkartet |url=http://1814.arkivverket.no |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624205923/http://1814.arkivverket.no |archive-date=2021-06-24 |access-date=2022-01-04 |website=Valgene i 1814 |publisher=Arkivverket |language=Norwegian}}</ref> Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 [[Norwegian Constituent Assembly]] which wrote the [[Constitution of Norway]]. This was Norway's first national elections. Each [[prestegjeld|church parish]] was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet at [[Eidsvoll Manor]] later that year.<ref name="lhw" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Om valgene |url=http://1814.arkivverket.no/#about-elections |access-date=2022-01-04 |website=Valgene i 1814 |publisher=Arkivverket |language=Norwegian}}</ref>

==Media gallery== <gallery mode="packed" heights="200px"> Stange kirke N.jpg Stange kirke NE.jpg Stange kirke - dåpshus.jpg Stange kirke altertavle.jpg Stange kirke - KMB - 16001000160486.jpg </gallery>

==See also== *[[List of churches in Hamar]]

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:Stange Municipality]] [[Category:Churches in Innlandet]] [[Category:Stone churches in Norway]] [[Category:Cruciform churches in Norway]] [[Category:13th-century churches in Norway]] [[Category:12th-century establishments in Norway]] [[Category:Norwegian election churches]]