Herøy Church

Historie

Herøy Church is a parish church in Herøy Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the town of Fosnavåg, on the island of Bergsøya. The church is part of the Herøy parish in the Søre Sunnmøre deanery in the Diocese of Møre. The concrete church was completed in 2003 to replace an older church. It was built by the architects Kino Tambs and Hans Petter Madsø from an architecture firm from Trondheim. The church was consecrated on 16 February 2003 by the Bishop Odd Bondevik. The church seats about 700 people.HistoryThe first "Herøy Church" was built during the Middle Ages on the small island of Herøya, about southeast of the present church. This was a small stone church and it was the main church for all of the outer Sunnmøre area. The church was demolished in 1859 and replaced by a wooden church. In 1916 the parish getting large and it was divided so that there would be a church for the outer islands and a church for the inner areas of the municipality. Since the church on Herøya was in the middle, it was decided to tear that one down and build two new churches elsewhere. The same year, a new main church for Herøy was built in Fosnavåg and Indre Herøy Church was built on the island of Gurskøy. Herøy Church burned down the night of Boxing Day 1998. Many works of art from the Middle Ages were lost in the fire. The new (present) church was completed in 2003.