Mandal Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Lindesnes Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the town of Mandal. It is one of the two churches for the Mandal parish which is part of the Lister og Mandal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark. The white, wooden church was built in a long church design in 1821 using plans drawn up by the architect Jørgen Gerhard Løser. It was designed in an empire/neoclassical style. The church seats about 1,000 people, making it the largest wooden church in Norway.
The sanctuary is a large hall supported by colossal columns. A small, cylindrical pulpit is placed above the altarpiece, a rather unusual location compared to most churches in Norway. The church is notable for its distinctive rectangular shape with a simple tower on the roof above the main entrance.
After the fire, the town and its roads were redesigned, and it was decided to move the church about to the northeast of the former location. The new church was built in a nice flat area with lots of space for a cemetery to surround the church. Construction of rebuilding the whole town began soon after the fire, but it was slow going. Work on the church began in 1812 and was mostly finished by 1819. The church was officially opened and consecrated in 1821.
The architect for the new church was Jørgen Gerhard Løser who used copper engravings of the old church from 1728 by James Gibbs as inspiration for his designs.
Election church
In 1814, this church served as an election church (). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet at Eidsvoll Manor later that year.
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Mandal Kirche von 1821 mi 1800 Sitzplätzen größte Holzkirche in Norwegen Foto Wolfgang Pehlemann IMG 9319.jpg
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See also
- List of churches in Agder og Telemark