Midtgulen Church

Midtgulen Church
Midtgulen kyrkje
View of the church View of the church
Midtgulen Church Location in Sogn og Fjordane county
Location	Bremanger Municipality, Sogn og Fjordane
Country	Norway
Denomination	Church of Norway
Churchmanship	Evangelical Lutheran
Website	Midtgulen Church
History
Consecrated	3 May 1904
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Lars Sølvberg
Style	Langkyrkje ("Long church")
Completed	1904
Specifications
Materials	Wood
Administration
Parish	Midtgulen
Deanery	Nordfjord prosti
Diocese	Diocese of Bjørgvin

Midtgulen Church (Norwegian: Midtgulen kyrkje) is a parish church in Bremanger Municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located in the village of Midtgulen, along the shore of the Gulen fjord. The church is part of the Midtgulen parish in the Nordfjord deanery in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The church, with a seating capacity of 200, was consecrated on 3 May 1904, by the Bishop Johan Willoch Erichsen. The architect Lars Sølvberg from Utvik made the designs. It is a wooden church of the "long church" design.

History

The old municipality of Bremanger comprised some areas around the Gulen fjord, while the majority of people lived on the island of Bremangerlandet where the parish church was located. The local people of Midtgulen promoted the church issue more in the form of a wish rather than a demand, and they discussed the matter more among themselves than with the vicar.

The first vicar in the parish, Ulrik Koren, was not particularly enthusiastic about building a church at Mudtgulen, as this would imply crossing the Frøysjøen strait in all kinds of weather. The vicar on his part took no initiative to build more churches in the parish. A new church was built on the island of Frøya in the 1860s, moving the parish church to a more central location.

When the people of Gulen got an auxiliary graveyard in 1879, this was a step closer to getting their own church. In the early 1890s, the matter was formally put on the agenda for the local council. There was no discussion whatsoever concerning the location of the new church; it had to be next to the graveyard.

The people of Gulen got a fine and suitable church site close to the pine forest in the sheltered bay of Hjellvika. Various organisations and individuals joined forces to work and give gifts as the church was being built. The Gulen Rifle Club paid for the coloured window panes used in the church until the restoration work in 1954. The local youth organisation donated money for the first organ, and the congregation raised money for the baptismal font, and other objects and furniture.