Vålerenga Church was built in late 19th century, and was consecrated in 1902. The architects were Heinrich Jürgensen and Holger Sinding-Larsen. The church is built in the Neo-Gothic and National Romantic styles, like many of the Norwegian churches built during this period of time. Vålerenga church is special architecturally because of its asymmetrically placed church tower, one of Norway's first of its kind.
A fire in 1979 burned the church to the ground and the building was almost totally destroyed. Only the outer walls, made of stone, were left standing. Frescoes and stained glass windows made by Emanuel Vigeland were lost. The church was rebuilt, and reconsecrated in 1984. New pieces of art were made by the artists Emanuel Vigeland and Håkon Bleken.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.