Dale Church

Historie

Dale Church is the main parish church in Fjaler Municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located in the village of Dale. The church is part of the Fjaler parish in the Sunnfjord deanery in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white wooden church was built in 1864 and it was consecrated on 24 November of that year by the Dean Johan Carl Christie. The church seats about 550 people.HistoryThere are no accurate information about when the first church was built in Dale. The first church was probably a stave church. Historical records from 1350 a "Dalskirkue" is named, probably referring to the church in Dale. That church was probably the second church in Fjaler. It was demolished in 1593 to make room for a new church: a tarred, timber church, which stood until 1863. The famous painter Anders Askevold painted an oil painting from Dalsbygda in 1853 which includes that church.In 1772, all the churches in the parish were sold at auction and became privately owned, but in 1860, the owner of the Dale Church gave the church back to the parish for free. The parish council decided that the church was too small and in poor condition, so it was torn down in 1863 and the new (present) church was completed the following year.