Melhus church and controversy of the Petter Dass portrait

Historie

Melhus Church, also known as "the Gauldal Cathedral", is a large stone Protestant church in Melhus municipality, Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It was built in 1892, after the older church building was demolished. The churchyard contains a cemetery.The church contains a controversial oil painting, which has been thought to be a portrait of Petter Dass.HistoryThe church stands in a scenic valley. In 1589, there were five churches in Melhus prestegjeld (more or less equivalent to a parish), but Melhus Church was the main one. Two of the five churches were located in Leinstrand and Flå; the remaining two churches were in Hølonda.In 1889, a Royal Decree was issued which ordered that the old Melhus Church be demolished. During this demolition, in 1890, a perfectly preserved hatchet dating from about 1100 was discovered in a wall of the medieval church. This axe was identified as the country's only preserved tool for cutting stone ("steinhuggerøks") from that period, and it is now located in the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology.Although the old church was torn down, several architectural elements of the medieval building were saved and incorporated into the new building. Much woodwork from the old church was included in the newer one. The old portal was also reused in the new church.