Fitjar Church

Fitjar Church (Norwegian: Fitjar kyrkje) is a parish church in Fitjar municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Fitjar. The church is part of the Fitjar parish in the Sunnhordland deanery in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in 1867 and it seats about 425 people.

History

The first church at Fitjar was probably built in the middle ages, not long after the Old Moster Church was built since the two churches had similar designs. The medieval church was built of stone and it probably did not have a steeple. The main part of the church was approximately 14.4 by 10.7 metres (47 ft × 35 ft). Prior to 1862, Fitjar Church was an annex to the large parish of Stord. In 1862, Fitjar was split off to form its own parish. At that time, it was decided that the old church was too small for the new parish. In 1867, the old church was torn down and a larger wooden church was built. There were many items from the old church that were kept and are still used in the new church including the old altarpiece, some brass candlesticks, and the baptismal font.

Fitjar

Fitjar (Norwegian pronunciation: [fitːjar]) is a municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. Fitjar municipality includes the northern part of the island of Stord and the hundreds of surrounding islands, mostly to the northwest of the main island. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fitjar.

General information

The parish of Fitje was established as a municipality on 1 January 1863 when it was separated from the large municipality of Stord. Initially, the population of Fitje was 2,313. On 1 January 1868, a small area in the municipality of Finnaas (population: 10) was transferred to Fitje. In 1900, the name was changed to Fitjar. The original municipality included all of the land surrounding the Selbjørnsfjorden. On 1 January 1964, the area of Fitjar located north of the Selbjørnsfjorden on the islands of Huftarøy and Selbjørn (population: 696) was transferred to the municipality of Austevoll. On 1 January 1995, the islands of Aga, Agasystra, Gisøya, Vikøya, Selsøy, Risøya, and many smaller surrounding islands (population: 225) were transferred from Fitjar to the neighboring island municipality of Bømlo. These islands had recently been connected to Bømlo by road bridges which precipitated the municipal transfer.

Fitjar (village)

 Fitjar  is the administrative centre of Fitjar municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. The village is located on the northwestern shore of the island of Stord. It sits at the southern end of the Fitjarvika bay, a small arm off the main Selbjørnsfjorden. A large group of small islands lie just off the coast to the west. The 1.33-square-kilometre (330-acre) village has a population (2013) of 1,472 which gives it a population density of 1,107 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,870/sq mi).Fitjar Church is located in this central part of this village. The historic Battle of Fitjar took place in this area in the year 961.

Name

The village (and municipality) is named after the old Fitjar farm, since the first Fitjar Church was built there. The name is the plural form of fit which means "vigorous meadow". Before 1900, the name was spelled "Fitje".

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