St. Olavs Church

St. Olavs Kyrkje

St.Olafs church was completed and concecrated in July 1897. Since it opened in 1897, the curch has held religious services in the summer months every year.

The church is part of the Diocese in Europe - The church of england. Today the church is maintained and run by “Vener av St.Olavs Kyrkje” (Friends of St.Olavs Church).

The inspiration for the church came from Margaret Sophia Green Kvikne (1850-1894), married to Knut Kvikne. Margaret was a ministers daughter from Birkin, a small English village in Yorkshire. She loved hiking in the mountains and was one of the first female mountaineers. In 1888, she, as the first woman in history, wrote an article in the Norwegian Tourist Association yearbook, about the ascent of Store Styggedalstind. In Balestrand she met the local hotel manager and mountain guide Knut Kvikne and they married in 1892.

When she first moved to Balestrand her longing for an English angelic church led to her and Knut deciding to build one in Balestrand. Sadly, Margaret became ill and never got to see the church finished. After her death Knut and two American women Gertrude Abbot og Elizabeth Winslow Peters, made sure Margarets church was finished.

Today the church is referred to as “The English church” by the locals. The unique and historical building was designed by the young architecht (and later professor at NTH in Trondheim) Jens Zetlitz Kielland (1866-1926). Kielland studied the old stave churches and was fascinated by the local and old traditions, reflected in the unique wood carvings and shape of the church. In line with the ideas and thoughts of Zetlitz Kielland, the work was done by local crafters and artists. Only the stained glass paintings over the alter was delievered from England. They were gifted from the English priest and mountaineer Christopher Blick Hutchinson.