Lillehammer Church

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Lillehammer Church
Lillehammer kirke
Lillehammer Church Location in Innlandet Lillehammer Church Lillehammer Church (Norway) Show map of InnlandetShow map of NorwayShow all
Coordinates: 61°6′41.74″N 10°27′49.92″E / 61.1115944°N 10.4638667°E / 61.1115944; 10.4638667
Location	Lillehammer
Country	Norway
Denomination	Church of Norway
Churchmanship	Evangelical Lutheran
History
Status	Parish church
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Henrik Thrap-Meyer
Completed	1882
Specifications
Capacity	650
Materials	Wood
Administration
Parish	Lillehammer
Deanery
Diocese	Hamar

Lillehammer church is a long church from 1882^[1] in Lillehammer municipality, Innlandet county. The building is listed as neo-Gothic style, but after the renovation in 1959, almost the entire interior of the church was changed. The church's original altarpiece, a copy of Adolph Tidemand's altarpiece at Tyristrand church, was then replaced with a new, painted wooden relief by Maja Refsum with the motif of Jesus in Gethsemane. The church's interior was redone in 2007. A new altar table was installed on a platform at the front of the nave, while the choir appeared as a separate chapel. The choir's walls were dressed with monotypes by Borgny Farstad Svalastog. The exterior appears today as when the church was finished with the exception of the entrance doors that were replaced in 1959. The church was re-roofed in 2007, and the old slate roof was replaced with a new one except for the tower where the slate plates were removed and copper plates were laid. The church can seat 650 people.

A medieval stave church was demolished in 1733 and replaced with a timber church with a cruciform floor plan erected some tens of meters northeast of the stave church, in the corner of the old cemetery. A masonry church replaced the timber church in 1882. It was built where the stave church had stood.^[2]

Tårnpetter was for many years a colorful feature of the urban environment, he dressed in rags and was an urban original. He climbed several times to the top of the tower without ropes with only his hands for example to replace roof tiles. There is a statue a few stone throws from the church at Lillehammer made by Rolf Lunde. A replica has later been cast and today stands outside the National Gallery in Oslo . On the church ramp northwest of the church, in the summer of 1937, the statue of Dyre Vaa was unveiled by Lars Skrefsrud (1840-1910). Pentecost 2011, Svein-Tore Kleppan's bronze bust by organist and composer Leif Solberg was unveiled by county mayor Audun Tron. The monument has been given a beautiful and dignified place northwest of the church's main entrance.

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