page_title: Haukedalen Church
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Haukedalen Church / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Haukedalen church in Førde kommune, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. Norsk nynorsk: Haukedalen kyrkje i Førde kommune i Sogn og Fjordane i Noreg.
context_page_description: Haukedalen Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sunnfjord Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Haukedalen. It one of the two churches for the Holsen og Haukedalen parish which is part of the Sunnfjord prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1885 using designs by the architect Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff. The church seats about 120 people.
  Haukedalen Church is located at an elevation of 300 metres above sea level, and within Sogn og Fjordane county, only Borgund Stave Church and Borgund Church in the municipality of Lærdal are higher in elevation. Haukedalen is also the church located farthest from the sea in all of Sogn og Fjordane county, 42 kilometres from the head of the Førdefjorden. The community of Haukedalen is on the high ground of the Gaula river watershed, and it is geographically more closely connected to the municipality of Gaular. The Haukedalen people have always belonged to the parish of Førde, even though they had to cross the 543-metre high Rørvikfjellet pass in the Gaularfjellet mountains to reach the Holsen Church.
context_section_description: The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1699. At that time, it was called a "chapel" and it fell under the control of Holsen Church, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the west in the next valley. The residents of Haukedalen had been asking for their own church for a long time. It is possible that there was a medieval church located here that at some point was torn down, but there are no surviving records to support that.
  Historically, the residents of the Haukedalen valley were part of the parish of Holsen Church in the next valley over. However, large quantities of snow have stopped a good many church travelers across the mountain pass between Holsen and Haukedalen. There is a place called Likhillaren where people used to leave coffins if darkness or bad weather set in while they were on their way to Holsen Church.
  Towards the end of the 17th century (likely in 1673), the residents of Haukedalen at long last got their own church. It was built close to the lake Haukedalsvatnet. The church was about 7 metres (23 ft) long and rectangular in shape.
  Prior to 1859, the vicar for the Førde parish came to Haukedalen only twice a year, around midsummer and on Michaelmas (29 September). Funerals were taken care of by the people in the village. It was practice to "sing out" the dead body at the home, then the coffin was buried at the churchyard. The church rituals had to wait until the next church service. The midsummer mass tradition is special, and it is something Haukedalen shares with other hill valleys, such as at Guddal. The midsummer mass is even today a day of celebration for people in the community.
  In 1885, the old chapel was torn down and replaced on the same site with a new building. The new church was consecrated on 8 July 1885 and this time it held the status of a church (rather than a chapel). Since that time, Haukedalen has had a worship service about once a month.
caption: View of the side exterior
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