Dovre Church

Dovre Church is located down in the bottom of the valley in the old settlement of Dovre. Earlier, this was the center of Dovre village. The old King’s Road across Dovrefjell runs along the churchyard wall, and the Pilgrim trail follows this road.

The church was built and put into use in 1736. The consecration did not take place until 1740, on a cold day in February when the temperature was 25 degrees below zero—both outdoors and indoors. Previously, the churches in Dovre had stood higher up on the valley side. There have been two older churches in Dovre. One was a stave church that stood in the field below the rectory, close to Olav’s Spring. It was demolished when the present church was completed in 1736. There may also have been an even older church, called Svendsgardkirka, but the sources about this are few and not completely reliable.

One reason was that the old stave church was small and worn, so a new building was needed to provide more space. But why build the new church in a different location? At the northern end of the old churchyard there was an Olav’s Spring. It was known for having water believed to have a beneficial effect on children. In the first half of the 18th century, Pietism gained a stronger presence in the country. Pietists strongly opposed the old holy springs, especially those located within churchyards. Perhaps this was the reason Dovre Church was moved—the church was to be separated from Olav’s Spring.

Inside Dovre Church, one can trace a line of stylistic history. In the church porch there is a portal plank from the stave church, and the nave has a baptismal font dating from around 1150. These represent aspects of medieval art: simple chip carving on the font and a flowing vine stem on the portal plank. The chancel has an altarpiece from 1681 in the earliest form of Baroque found in Norway—brusk baroque. A new pulpit and chancel screen were carved for the new church around 1740, in the style that would become dominant in Gudbrandsdalen from the 18th century onward; the acanthus style.

Just over 100 years later, in the 1840s, the church received its final form with a new tower and slate cladding. In fact, the building’s covering of large slate slabs is the most distinctive architectural feature of Dovre Church.

Dovre churchyard is known for its many distinctive, locally produced grave markers.