Kristiansand Cathedral

Kristiansand, Norway

Kristiansand Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Agder and Telemark in the Church of Norway. It is a Neo-Gothic church completed in 1885 and designed by the architect Henrik Thrap-Meyer. It is the third cathedral built in the town of Kristiansand and one of the largest cathedrals in Norway. The cathedral is 70m long and 39m wide, and the only tower is 70m high. Originally the cathedral had 2,029 seats and room for 1,216 standees, but seating has now been reduced to 1,300.To re-use the walls of the previous cathedral, which burned down in 1880, the altar was positioned at the west end, rather than in the traditional position in the east.

The cathedral is in the same location as three previous buildings. The first, called Trinity Church, was built in 1645 and was a small wooden church. When Kristiansand was appointed the seat of the diocese in 1682, construction began on the town's first cathedral, called Our Savior's Church. That first cathedral, built in stone, was consecrated in 1696, but burned down in 1734. The second cathedral, consecrated in 1738, was destroyed by a fire that affected the whole city, on 18 December 1880. When the 1940 Nazi German attack on Kristiansand took place early in the morning of 9 April 1940, the 70-metre cathedral tower was hit by a grenade, which fortunately only damaged the upper part.

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Address

Rådhusgata 13, Kristiansand, Norway
See all sites in Kristiansand

Details

Founded: 1885
Category: Religious sites in Norway

More Information

www.visitnorway.com
www.360cities.net
kristiansanddomkirke.no
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Christiansholm Fortress (0,6 km)
Oddernes Church (1,9 km)


Harkmark Church (25,5 km)
Vestre Moland Church (25,1 km)
Søgne Old Church (10,9 km)
Høvåg Church (15,2 km)

User Reviews

Siw Rudi (2 years ago)
A beautifyl chirch and well worth a visit. They house a lot of good music performances. At Christmas time they show pictures on the front and it is very cool.
Fabian Rodriguez (3 years ago)
Beautiful town to walk around and nice shopping round this amazing church
Krisztián Ferryman Konszky (3 years ago)
Helpful clerk with some interesting information about the church and the model of the frigate Jylland, hanging overhead.
Dan (3 years ago)
Beautiful church with amazing woodwork inside
Christine Stuerzebecher (4 years ago)
A great experience - especially when you enter this majestic building and the tremendous organ is playing. Overwhelming! If you come by a cruise-ship to this lovely little town with palm-trees in the parks (!) take the little sightseeing- train which is waiting for you at the harbour and stay on it to the final stop in the picturesque old town. From there it is just some steps to the impressing building. If you want to hear the organ you should be there at noon. Later you can get on the train again (keep your ticket!) and go around as often as you want. For a good snack you can get off at the fish-market which is not very far away from your ship.
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