Gildeskål

Gildeskål- old and new

The oldest church was built in 1130 or in the middle of the 11th century.  It is built from local marble and the walls in the entrance are 1,6 metres thick. The church was burned down in 1711 because a lightning hit the tower.
The little red hut, which you can see in the picture is the entrance hall. In there everyone had to put off his/her weapons. Because weapons were not allowed in the church.

baptise cave

Within the church rich people were sitting in a box to be separated from the mainaudience. Also student were allowed to sit there - these were mostly the sons of the rich people. Now those boxes are in barock style - although they were not in fashion anymore in the 17th century, you can still see them in this church. In this church are quite many of those boxes. One in the front, two in the back and on the stage, where the organ is placed. These boxes and some of the benches were private property, so someone payed for it. If those people were not able to come to the church no one was sitting there, because it was kind of prohibited. In former times one of these boxes was used for baptising the young children. This box is placed as far away from the altar as possible. Because children weren´t part of the community until they were baptised. Also the mother wasn´t allowed to go immediately after birth to church, she had to wait some time.

Young people were almost sitting in the same place and girls and boys were not separated. So the church was kind of social place to get to know each other and meet. 
The bench at the very end of the church was really narrow and only people from the mountain had to sit there - kind of separation (they didn´t like the people from the mountains too much). Most of those people were Samis. People who were not able to come to the church had to pay a fee.

The church was also a really important place for farmers, some of them had their own benches inside and the farmers used the church as meeting point. Gildeskal was kind of community insurance. If something bad happened to a farm, for example it burned down, the farmers met there and find a solution how to help the other farmer. People who were working at a farm where mostly just working for getting food and living there. The farmer had to take care and pay for the funeral, if one of his workers died.

natural paintings

drawings from 1711 and 1754

Gottfried Ezekiel was the painter of the drawings in 1711 and 1754 - the first one is the marble structure on the benches and the second one are the cave drawings. In the 18th century the natural paintings on some of the benches were drawn. In former times only the caves of the rich people were coloured the rest of the church was only wood without any colour.

wedding chair with vowel

old wedding chairs

The wedding chairs were from different sizes in former times. The broom´s chair was higher in comparison with the bride´s chair. The reason for that was that the bride had to listen to what the broom is saying. Now the chairs are equal and you can find the wedding vowels on the back of the chairs. In this church are only some weddings during summer.


The holy part of the Church (area around the altar) was only for the priest, which means that only the priest was allowed to be there. Now you can walk around the altar and get the bread there. Inside the altar is a relic, which no one touched since the altar was built. The altarcloth says:

"Ora pro nobis" - Saint Thomas



This means "Pray for us". Saint Thomas is the Saint of fishermen, that`s the reason why he is mentioned on the altarcloth. You can also find hourglasses on the altar. These were for the priest`s speech. So everyone could see how much time is left. But some of the priests just turned the hourglass again, if they wanted to say something else.

altar

The altarpiece/ altarwindow behind the altar is quite small. there would be another huge one, but it was too big for the old church, so they placed it in the new one. Before the window, which you can see on the Picture, there was a more simple one - only with a cross on it.
This window is now placed in the entrance.




In front of the altar on a part of the ceiling you can find a picture, which is quite unusual. During the Second World War the people living near the church tried to hide every important and valuable thing in the church. This specific picture was hidden in a barn with hay. When the people found it the restored it and put it up there.


All in all the restauration of the church took a really long time. The people didn`t care that much about the old church. They even used it for their animals to have a warm Place for them.

Today a golden plate from Russia is used for the holy water, which is needed for the process of baptising. This plate shows Katharina the Great. They scientists are quite sure that it must be Katharina the Great because of the nose (really big nose).

baptistry

If you have an insight into the church you can find one of the priests`s casooks. This priest from the 17th century must have been a really huge one. We also heard a story about him, ehich I want to tell you now:
This priest had two sons. One day, when their father was celebrating a mass, they played a trick on him. They removed the fur of a dog, who was standing in front of the church and sent him afterwards inside. Because of this trick the whole Family got banned. And it is said that since that time the family suffered from many illnesses. One of the sons died and the other one tried to apologize by giving a ship to the church. But he fell Down a Cliff and died. 100 years later a woman of this family came to the church`s priest and asked him to remove the bann. So they gathered 100 people in the church and the priest blessed them. - In this spring the family got unusually many calfs.

priestscloth

ship - present from the son

The new church is in gothic style and is held in the national colours (blue/red and white). Which can also be found on the ceiling above the altar.

church from outside

inside

altar plus altarpiece - ceiling with national colours