Nørreland Church

Facts

D-I-Y church

In 1969, a new church, designed by the architects Inger and Johannes Exner, was consecrated on the north side of Holstebro. The building forms part of a large, almost fort-like complex of offices, parish council rooms and gardens. One distinctive feature is the unusual, stand-alone belfry from 1970: a lattice tower topped by a box-like structure containing a carillon of new fewer than 48 bells. The chapel is a cube in which the congregation, minister and choir gather round the altar and font. There are no windows in the walls, but chinks of light from two corners and along the ceiling provide atmospheric illumination.

Public place

Selected entry

Church-building by women and unconventional methods

Story written by Erik Bjerre Fisker

Time / Periode 1965 1967

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Raising the funds and obtaining a permit to build Nørrelandskirken faced tough odds, so creative thinking was called for. The working party came up with the idea of letting volunteers build the parish council wing. Construction got underway in August 1965, and almost 200 people found various ways of doing their bit for the project. Three student nurses, for example, showed that their bandaging skills could be put to use in bandaging" underfloor-heating pipes with insulating material. The news that three young women were on site attracted more young men to the project, though they ended up on the church roof with hammer and nail. The church complex was built in two phases, the first of which was construction of the parish council rooms. The parish council hall opened in April 1967 as an interim chapel until the church itself was completed. "