St. Olaf's Church, Balestrand

St. Olaf's Church (Nynorsk: St. Olafs kyrkje and Den engelske kyrkja, "The English Church") is an Anglican church in the village of Balestrand in Sogndal Municipality in the county of Vestland in Norway. The church was built in 1897 as a stave church imitation and has 95 seats.

St. Olaf's Church
The English Church
St. Olaf's Church, an Anglican Church
in Sogndal, Norway
St. Olaf's ChurchThe English Church is located in Vestland
St. Olaf's ChurchThe English Church
St. Olaf's Church
The English Church
St. Olaf's ChurchThe English Church is located in Norway
St. Olaf's ChurchThe English Church
St. Olaf's Church
The English Church
61°12′27″N 6°32′4″E
LocationKong Beles veg 35, 6899 Balestrand
CountryNorway
DenominationChurch of England
History
DedicationSaint Olaf
Architecture
Architect(s)Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland
StyleDragestil
Stave church (imitation)
Years built1897
Specifications
MaterialsWood
Administration
DioceseDiocese of Gibraltar in Europe
ParishSummer seasonal Chaplaincy

St. Olaf's Church is notable as the inspiration for the chapel in Elsa's coronation scene in the 2013 Disney film Frozen.[1][2]

History
Knut Kvikne and Margaret Sophia Green

Balestrand was a popular site for British tourists in the latter half of the 19th century. One of these was the English clergyman's daughter and climbing pioneer, Margaret Sophia Green. She got along very well with the Norwegians and loved the Norwegian mountains. In 1890, Margaret married Knut Kvikne, whose family owned the Kviknes Hotel in Balestrand. Shortly after her marriage, Margaret was diagnosed with tuberculosis; she died in 1894. Before she died, she told her husband that she had a dream of building an English church in Balestrand. As a legacy to his wife, Knut Kvikne separated a plot from the Kviknes Hotel's large plots, and with the help of generous donations from two American women, he began to build. The church was consecrated just three years after Margaret's death.

Ornaments

The church looks from the outside like a stave church and has horizontal paneling. It has two spiers, one over the choir, and a bell tower over the ridge turret in the middle of the nave. The ridge turret is decorated with two dragon heads, as on the ancient stave churches.

A portrait of Margaret Sophia Green Kvikne hangs inside the church, along with a memorial brass plate. The inscription is The Mountains shall bring Peace, taken from Psalm 72, a Bible verse with significance for the mountaineering Margaret. The altarpiece was painted by Emma Pastor Normann, dates from 1897 and shows the risen Christ. The church has a banner showing Saint Olaf, probably made in 1897. The church room is also decorated with wood carvings.

Stained glass

In the choir there are nine stained glass windows with saints as a theme. Of these saints there are three Norwegian saints; St. Olaf, St. Hallvard and St. Sunniva. The others are Mary, mother of Jesus, St. Columba, St. Clement, St. Bride, St. Swithun and St. George.

  • St. Bride, St. Columba, St. Sunniva
    St. Bride, St. Columba, St. Sunniva
  • St. Clemens, St. Olav, St. Mary
    St. Clemens, St. Olav, St. Mary
  • St. Swithun, St. George, St. Hallvard
    St. Swithun, St. George, St. Hallvard

Current use

During the summer the church is used by the Anglican church for services in English every Sunday. There are also services in weekdays and weekends when priests are available. At other times of the year there are worship services when it is agreed.

The church is run economically on donations from tourists, and the priests who serve in the church are English speakers who work for free. The owners of the Kvicknes Hotel provide the visiting priests free room and board, as they have since the church was consecrated. Janitorial and supervision services for the church building are carried out by the hotel.

The church has over the years been a popular location for weddings, especially by Norwegian-British bridal couples.

  • Tourist photo from 1925
    Tourist photo from 1925
  • The church as seen from the Sognefjord
    The church as seen from the Sognefjord
  • Saltire is one of the heraldic symbols occurring as a subject of the wood carvings.
    Saltire is one of the heraldic symbols occurring as a subject of the wood carvings.
  • Interior. The rope is used to operate the church bells.
    Interior. The rope is used to operate the church bells.
  • The Banner of Saint Olaf
    The Banner of Saint Olaf

References
  1. Solomon, Charles (2013). The Art of Frozen. Chronicle Books. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-4521-1716-4.
  2. The Frozen church has an incredible love story behind it Archived 2018-11-19 at the Wayback Machine www.kviknes.com
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