page_title: Old Værøy Church
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Old Værøy Church / History
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Vieille église en bois de Værøy, au nord de l'île.English: Old wooden church in North Værøy.
context_page_description: Old Værøy Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Nordland on the northern side of the island of Værøya. It used to be the main church for the Værøy parish which is part of the Bodø domprosti in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland. The red, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1714 and it was moved to its present location in 1799. It is the oldest church in Lofoten that is still in use.
context_section_description: The village of Nordland on the island of Værøy has probably had a church since the 1500s.  In 1599, the church was either heavily repaired or replaced.  The previous church on the island was destroyed by strong winds during a storm in 1790.
  Rather than building a replacement, another church building (built in 1746) from the nearby village of Kabelvåg (in what is now Vågan Municipality) was moved to Værøy in 1799.  Some furniture from the old church still exists in today's church.  They chose to move the church from Kabelvåg because that church was too small for the Kabelvåg congregation, so they were going to build a new, larger church there.  The church underwent extensive remodeling and renovations from 1828 until 1837.  During the 1880s, a storm ravaged the church and it again needed to be rebuilt.
  In 1939, a new Værøy Church was built in the village of Sørland on the south side of the island, where most of the residents lived.  The new church became the main church for the parish, although the old church is still used for worship services each month on the fourth Sunday.
caption: Another view of the church
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