Bodin Church

Bodin Church is one of the oldest buildings in this area; it was built around 1240. Today, it is hard to tell how the original church did look like. The sacred house was put down and rebuilt several times; first it was made out of wood which is a disapearing material. At the end of the 12th century, the first churches were made out of stones. 


 
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Some signs inside the church indicate that it has maybe some Catholic heritage. First of all there is an arched gateway (picture 1). Secondly, there are several crosses put in the stones or the concrete (picture 2). 
The ground plan of Bodin Church is a very unusual one; it seems like if there is one part of a cross missing. (picture 3). A hypothesis is that the ground was to unstable to build walls on it, so it was left out. 

 picture1










picture 2 


            __
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        I        I
 ......I         I_ _ _ 
:      I                  I
: ...  I          _ _ _I
       I        I
       I_ _ _ I                picture 3



Cultural Heritage
In Bodin Church there are some parts pointing on heritage. For example the benches. At the very end of the benches' rows is an original one, and every bench was constructed according to this one. The unique part is that there are doors at each end of a bench. 
It is common for Norway that there is a ship hanging from the ceiling. This is a reminder on how important a ship was and is for travelling and shipping. Bodin Church has this famous ship Anna Karoline, which was the main ship travelling between Bodo and the Lofoten Islands. The ships in churches are always sailing towards the east - Christ is coming back from the east and they are going to welcome him. 
Currently, some wooden figures are restored. They were made in the 15th century and it is very difficult to find the original colours of them. There is now the question if it is necessary to find the original colours at all. Or is it just a wast of time? Is it important to find the old formula - isn't the new one better?