Hammerfest Church

Although Hammerfest did not receive its charter as a market town until 1789, its first church was built in 1620. The first five churches that followed were all destroyed by fire.

This sixth one, which we checked out today, was built in 1961. It was part of the post-war building effort, with a triangular shape that makes it rather unique. The shape is said to represent the traditional fish-drying racks.

In fact, it was the shape of the church, which we saw from a distance when we were at the Salen Viewpoint, that caught our attention. It reminded us of the beautiful chapel on the grounds of the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and the very modern church we checked out in Tromsø, Norway several years ago.

Two things inside the rather simply decorated church struck me ... the beautiful stained glass window and the 1782-pipe organ, the latter designed to mimic the steeply-pitched roofline of the church.Read more