Arctic Cathedral
Interesting facts
- Copper was originally ordered for the roof, but it proved too expensive, so Hovig switched to aluminium at about half the price.
- Victor Sparre's mosaic covers some 140 square metres and is made of thick French dalle de verre glass; it also serves as the church's altarpiece.
- The mosaic centres on the hand of God sending three rays of light for the Trinity, while humanity appears as grey concrete figures of Adam and Eve.
- Pipes in the original 1965 organ eventually buckled under their own weight; its 2005 replacement has 42 stops and 2,940 pipes.
- The new organ was paid for partly by gifts and partly by income from tourists and the church's midnight-sun concerts.
- The smallest bell, cast in 1965 and weighing 570 kg, is decorated with a dove carrying an olive branch.
- People have read the building as icebergs, boathouses, fish-drying racks, the northern lights or a Sami lavvu tent, though few of these readings come from the architect himself.
- It belongs to the steep triangular 'boathouse church' type that emerged in Norwegian church design in the 1950s.
- The west front rises about 35 metres, and lights set beside the windows illuminate the facade and the interior at the same time.
- Tromsø's actual cathedral, across the strait in the city centre, is the only wooden cathedral in Norway.
Why it is worth it
Seen from across the strait, the Arctic Cathedral rises above the Tromsdalen shore like a stack of white sails or slabs of ice leaning against one another, its sharp profile set against the mountains behind. Officially it is Tromsdalen Church, a parish church of the Church of Norway rather than a cathedral, but its nickname has stuck, and it has become the most recognisable image of Tromsø.
The church was designed by the Norwegian architect Jan Inge Hovig. Work began on 1 April 1964 and it was consecrated on 19 November 1965. Hovig built it from cast-in-place concrete panels coated in aluminium, arranged in a series of descending triangular sections that give the building its stepped, faceted silhouette; the shape is said to take its cue from the twin-peaked island of Håja off the coast. The main gable facing the water is filled with glass, and the east end is closed by a huge glass mosaic by the artist Victor Sparre, added in 1972, depicting the return of Christ, with light streaming down through coloured glass onto the altar. The church seats around 600 people, and an organ built by Grönlunds Orgelbyggeri was installed in 2005.
Its position does as much as its form. The church stands on the mainland side of the Tromsøysund strait, at the end of the long Tromsø Bridge, so that it faces the island city across the water. In winter, when the polar night settles over the region, the lit façade glows against the dark, and in summer the midnight sun keeps it in daylight around the clock.
Tromsø, the largest city in northern Norway, lies well north of the Arctic Circle on an island between the mainland and the outer coast, and has long been a starting point for Arctic expeditions and a centre of fishing and trade.
Getting there
The church is in Tromsdalen, on the mainland side of Tromsø, at the eastern end of the Tromsø Bridge that links it to the city centre on Tromsøya. Tromsø Airport (TOS) is about 5 km away, on the island.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Tromsdalen Church or the Arctic Cathedral is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. It is located in the Tromsdalen valley on the east side of Tromsø. It is the church for the Tromsøysund parish, which is part of the Tromsø domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland. The modern concrete and metal church was built in a long church style in 1965 using plans drawn up by architect Jan Inge Hovig. The church seats about 600 people.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
69.64807, 18.98740per Wikidata