Tingvoll Church

Tingvoll Church (Norwegian: Tingvoll kyrkje) is a parish church in Tingvoll Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the village of Tingvollvågen. The church is the main church of the Tingvoll parish, in the Indre Nordmøre deanery in the Diocese of Møre. The church is one of the few remaining old stone churches that was built in Norway. There is some uncertainty as to when it was actually constructed, but records indicate it was between 1150 and 1200. The 800+ year old church in Tingvoll and the large angular farmhouse beside it, lie on a beautiful spot on the north side of the Tingvollfjorden, just outside the village of Tingvollvågen off of the Norwegian National Road 70. The church was built here because in the Viking age, Tingvoll was a court place for all of the Nordmøre region, which is why the church is sometimes called Nordmørsdomen, meaning the Nordmøre cathedral.

Design

The church is 32 metres (105 ft) long and the steeple and spire (added in 1787) is 36 metres (118 ft) tall. The 1.8-metre (5 ft 11 in) thick walls have corridors inside, both on the south side and on the north side. The corridors lead to steep stairs up to the crown of the wall under the rafters and then down again with the same steep pitch. It is a mystery why they were constructed. So also a balcony outside under the gable, located above the chancel. The church is richly decorated. From the painted walls in the weaponhouse, the whitewash paintings inside the nave, to the arc ceiling in the chancel which is adorned with stars and "half" moons. In the chancel wall, behind the top of the altarpiece, there is a marble rock with runic inscriptions. This inscription contains a prayer and also what is believed to be the name of the constructor - Gunnar. In 1928-1929 the church underwent some restoration work.

Tingvoll

Tingvoll is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Tingvollvågen. Other villages include Meisingset, Kvisvik, and Torjulvågen. The municipality covers a peninsula on the mainland as well as a few surrounding islands. Norwegian National Road 70 and European route E39 both run through the municipality.

General information

Tingvoll was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1866, the northern part of the municipality (population: 1,222) was separated to form the new municipality of Straumsnes. On 1 January 1874, a part of Stangvik municipality (population: 61) was transferred to Tingvoll. On 1 January 1877, the Tiltereidet and Meisalstranden part of Tingvoll (population: 212) on the west side of the Sunndalsfjorden was transferred to Nesset Municipality. On 1 January 1880, the Torjulvågen area of Halsa Municipality (population: 240) was transferred to Tingvoll. On 1 January 1890, the Rausand area of Tingvoll (population: 101) was transferred to Nesset Municipality.

Tingvollvågen

Tingvollvågen or Tingvoll is the administrative centre of Tingvoll Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located on a small inlet off the Tingvollfjorden, directly across the fjord from the village of Angvika (in Gjemnes Municipality). Tingvollvågen lies about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Meisingset and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Straumsnes. The historic Tingvoll Church is located in this village. Norwegian National Road 70 runs through the village on its way from Kristiansund to Oppdal.

The 1.23-square-kilometre (300-acre) village has a population (2013) of 1,026, which gives the village a population density of 834 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,160/sq mi).

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