Tromsø Cathedral in Tromsø

Tromsø

Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 is the seat of the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland

Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland

Nord-Hålogaland is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers Lutheran churches in the counties of Troms, Finnmark and Svalbard. The cathedral city is Tromsø, and the bishop since 2002 is Per Oskar Kjølaas...

.

Tromsø Cathedral is the only Norwegian cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 made of wood. The church is in Gothic revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 style, with the church tower and main entrance facing west. It is likely to be the northernmost Protestant cathedral in the world. With 800 seats, it's one of Norway's biggest wooden churches.

The structure was completed in 1861, with Christian Heinrich Grosch

Christian Heinrich Grosch

Christian Heinrich Grosch was a Norwegian architect.He was born in Halden and educated by his father, Heinrich August Grosch and in Germany and Copenhagen....

 as the architect. It was built using a cog joint method. It is situated in the middle of Tromsø on a site where in all likelihood there has been a church since the 13th century.

The first church in Tromsø was built in 1252 by King Haakon IV of Norway

Haakon IV of Norway

Haakon Haakonarson , also called Haakon the Old, was king of Norway from 1217 to 1263. Under his rule, medieval Norway reached its peak....

 as a royal chapel. The church belonged to the king, therefore, not the Catholic Church. This church was the world's northernmost church. The church is mentioned several times in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 as St. Mary near the Gentiles (Sancta Mariae juxta Pagano).

A wooden church already stood on the grounds when the cathedral was built, which was first relocated to the area immediately south of the city border (only a few hundre metres south) and then in the early 1970's to Elverhøy kirke further up the hills in the city. This church is still there, and it contains a number of pieces of art that have adorned the churches in Tromsø from the Middle Ages.

The oldest object is a Madonna

Madonna (art)

Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...

 figure, possibly from the 15th. C. The interior is dominated by the altar with a copy of the painting Resurrection, by the noted artist Adolph Tidemand

Adolph Tidemand

Adolph Tidemand was a noted Norwegian romantic nationalism painter. Among his best known paintings are Haugianerne and Brudeferd i Hardanger with Hans Gude.-Biography:Adolph Tidemand was born in Mandal, Norway as the son of customs inspector and Storting representative...

 .

See also

• Arctic Cathedral
  Arctic Cathedral
  The Tromsdalen Church , which is more commonly known as The Arctic Cathedral , is a church in Tromsø, Norway, built in 1965. The church is a parish church and not, in fact, a cathedral.The church was designed by Jan Inge Hovig, and its building materials consist mainly of concrete...
  
   - another church in Tromsø, noted for its architecture.
• Church of Norway
  Church of Norway
  The Church of Norway is the state church of Norway, established after the Lutheran reformation in Denmark-Norway in 1536-1537 broke the ties to the Holy See. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith...
  
  

External links

• Picture of Tromsø Cathedral