Neiden Chapel


Neiden Chapel is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Neiden. It is one of the churches for the Sør-Varanger parish which is part of the Varanger prosti in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland. The red and white, wooden church was built in a long church format in the style called dragestil in 1902 by the architect Karl Norum. The church seats about 155 people.

History

In 1898, many farmers in Neiden made a request to the Norwegian [Ministry of Church and Education|Ministry of Church and Education] to have a church and a cemetery built in Neiden. Only four years later, the church was finished. The residents' desire to have a church coincided with the government's desire to secure the border from Finnish-Russian expansion, and a Norwegian church near the border would help. Architect Karl Norum was very keen on old Norwegian stave churches, and he created a dragestil building that would be an expression of Norwegian culture and national cohesion in a border area. The chapel had 155 seats and it cost at that time. The chapel was consecrated on 13 July 1902.

Russian Orthodox chapel

There is also a Russian Orthodox chapel located nearby in Neiden, built in the 16th century as a part of Russian Christianisation of the Skolt samis who were the inhabitants of the area at that time.

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