Our Lady of Good Counsel Church (Porsgrunn)

Historie

Our Lady of Good Counsel Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in the city of Porsgrunn in Telemark, Norway.The church is located in the center of town just south of Porsgrunn River, at the intersection of Sverresgate and Aallsgate. The church was built in 1899 by Haldor Larsen Børve and is a classic example of Dragestil architecture.HistoryIn February 1887, the Porsgrund porcelain factory (Porsgrunds Porselænsfabrik) began operations in Porsgrunn, and with few Norwegians skilled in porcelain production, the factory management decided to recruit workers from abroad. In the next few years, more than 70 craftsmen and their families moved from Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary, to Porsgrunn to work in the factory. Suddenly, Porsgrunn had a huge population of immigrant workers, most of whom were Catholic. This influx of Catholics was especially drastic when seen in context: in Norway's 1900 census, there were only 1,969 Catholics in the entire country.The burgeoning Norwegian Catholic Church saw the opportunity to expand their ranks, and in 1889 they sent one of their assistant priests in Christiania, Dutch minister Johannes Henrik Blom, to Porsgrunn with the intention of starting a church there. Blom bought the plot of land on which the church was to be built on 25 June of that year. He also rented a small room in a house belonging to the Catholic Vauvert family in the Osebakken neighborhood of Porsgrunn, and made it into a makeshift chapel to hold sermons. The chapel was consecrated on 14 September 1889, representing the start of a practicing Catholic faith in Telemark.