Vallø_Kirke_(13555787504).jpg
Description Vallø Kirke (13555787504).jpg |
Vallø Kirke is a 230 year old wooden church located at Vallø outside Tønsberg, Norway. The roots of the church goes back to the reign of King Christian VI of Denmark Norway who decided to start a saltworks operation at the Vallø peninsula, along the Oslo fjord. Salt in those days being an expensive commodity to import. Vallø Saltverk, officially known as Det Kongelige Norske Saltverk, went into operation in 1739 and quickly grew into a large business, making Vallø an important industrial center along the fjord. This attracted people to move there for work and the community grew rapidly in the mid 18th century. The road leading from Vallø to the parish church in Slagen was long and winding so with the growing population came the wish to build a local church at Vallø. Thus, in 1777 the management of the saltworks decided to invest 4000 riksdaler to finance and build a church for its workers and their families. The foundation stone was laid on 17 July 1781 and on 4 December 1782 the church was consecrated by Bishop Schmidt. It was named Christians Kirke after King Christian VII, the then current monarch of Denmark & Norway. The church remained privately owned, first by the saltworks and since then by the oil company Esso, until it was given to Sem kommune in 1982. The church building was one of the few buildings at Vallø to survive the British air raid on 25 April 1945 virtually unharmed, so besides new paint it looks much the same it did in 1782. |
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Source | Flickr : Vallø Kirke | ||
Author | Bernt Rostad | ||
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