Churches on the Faroe Islands

Remarkably little medieval church furniture has been preserved in the Faroe Islands. Some distinctive baptismal fonts have been brought to the museum in Tórshavn over the years, most of which are square or rectangular, and one is four-leaf clovershaped. They are made of soapstone and produced in Norway in the period 1100‑1250.

There are only three more or less well-preserved medieval church buildings, and all of them are located in Kirkjubøur. The parish church, the only medieval church still in use, was probably dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It dates from the 13th century and was probably built on the foundations of an even older church. Magnus Cathedral, the large High Gothic cathedral ruin, was built around the year 1300. And what is today referred to as Líkhús and has largely vanished into the sea, may be the church, Sankt Brandans Kirkja, which was presumably built in 1420.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church had a total of 61 churches in 2020. The old wooden churches on Nes and in Gøta have been replaced by Fríðrikskirkjan in Toftir and the new church at Gøtugjógv and are therefore only used on special occasions. The altarpieces in the Faroese Established Churches often feature art of surprisingly high quality. Apart from the church in Hósvík, the pulpit is always placed on the north side of the church. In Kirkjubøur, the hymn singing is without musical accompaniment. Some churches have harmoniums or electric organs, while the majority have invested in good pipe organs. A renewed liturgical interest is manifested in a large and varied amount of new chasubles and church textiles, mainly by Faroese artisans.

Havnar Kirkja (Tórshavn Cathedral) was built in 1788 north of the town as a replacement for Christian IV’s Church from 1609, which was located on Tinganes. It got its current form during a rebuild in 1865, when an extension on the south side was removed, a choir was built to the east, the tower was raised, large roundarched windows were inserted, the church was painted white and covered with slate.

Medieval church buildings

The church buildings in the episcopal residence of Kirkjubøur stand in stark contrast to the more modest churches and prayer houses elsewhere in the Faroe Islands. The building style of the episcopal residence of Kirkjubøur was far more ambitious. It was inspired by the more pompous building style known from medieval churches, monasteries and castles outside the Faroe Islands. The buildings that were built of stone laid in mortar and with material-intensive timber structures, often dovetail log buildings, which were both expensive to build and required a great deal of craftsmanship.

The remains seen today at the episcopal residence of Kirkjubøur show a close connection to the Church of Rome and testify to the fact they were in a better financial position to build. Kirkjubøur became the islands’ ecclesiastical and cultural centre with contacts to the outside world, from where the ideology of the Catholic Church, foreign cultural currents and the power of the church were translated and exercised in Faroese society.

The current parish church in Kirkjubøur was built in the 13th century and is the only medieval church in the country that is still in use. Archaeological investigations under the church floor show that the church stands on the remains of older church buildings and burial sites. The rectangular building, whose external dimensions are 21.5 x 7.5 m, joins a number of Norwegian cloister churches from the same period, which are characterised by their length in relation to their width.

The current parish church served as the country’s cathedral until the end of the 13th century, when the construction of a new, larger and far more richly ornamented cathedral in Gothic style started. It is today the ruin that goes by the name Magnus Cathedral.

About 100 m east of the Magnus Cathedral is a ruin of a smaller church building called Líkhús. Presumably this is the remains of a church, which in a written source from about 1420 is referred to as being under construction.

Faroese-Danish-Norwegian archaeological excavations in the years 1953‑55 have helped provide an overview of the building history and layout of the bishop’s palace complex. Like other church property, the buildings of the bishop’s palace, were taken over by the crown in connection with the Reformation and have since been a royal copyhold farm. Unlike other buildings in the Faroe Islands, the buildings are not stave structures, but dovetail log structures. The oldest part of the structure dates back to before 1350.

The old wooden churches

What is today considered a typical Faroese village church is not, as in Denmark, a medieval stone church, but a 19th-century black-painted wooden church with white windows, turf on the roof and a tower in the form of a white-painted ridge turret. Apart from the altar, the entire church interior is made of scrubbed pine.

Of the eight old churches, the church in Sandur is of particular interest, as archaeological investigations have revealed that it is the sixth in a continuous series of churches in the same location. Supplemented with written sources, including the extensive church inspections of the 18th century, the church in Sandur reveals a building history that stretches from the small stave church of the 11th century over a series of increasingly large buildings with outer stone walls, which gradually acquires the simple rectangular shape: To the east is the choir, which is separated from the twice-as-long nave by a wooden wall with carved railings, and at the western end of the building is a porch with stairs to the gallery and bell tower. Technically, it was always a wooden structure, although the outer walls on the north and south sides were made of stone, and the roof was covered with straw or birch bark under the turf.

In the 19th century, the stone walls were replaced by exterior wooden cladding, which made the building lighter and brighter, as it could be fitted with more windows. The furniture is some of the finest craftsmanship created at that time.

The great building period 1850‑1950

The growing population and continued problems with dampness and rot – many churches had to be renewed after 50 years of use – meant that in the second half of the 19th century, in addition to wood, churches began to be made of other materials, first boulders and then concrete. The churches at Viðareiði and in Húsavík are examples of a transitional type, where the inner stone walls, like the outer walls, are whitewashed, ceilings and pews are still made of unpainted pine, while the separation between choir and nave is considerably less significant. A later type has blue-painted, vaulted ceilings spangled with stars and painted furniture, pews and often also walls, often with wooden interior panels. Externally, this type of church still has white walls, while the joy of colour shows itself on windows, doors and roofs, where turf is replaced by slate or sheets of wood or aluminium, lead or copper. In many places, the east-west orientation is no longer seen, but the basic shape is still the simple rectangle. The period shows very little consideration for earlier Faroese church building in favour of style imitation, neoclassicism, art nouveau and the Bedre Byggeskik building style.

Among the many foreign and Faroese builders and architects, especially the Icelander Guðbrandur Sigurðsson from the second half of the 19th century and the Faroese architect H.C.W. Tórgarð from the first half of the 20th century should be mentioned. The latter has given the carved symbols from the choir walls and sacristies of the old wooden churches, such as cross, hourglass and tree of life, a new and decorative location.

The present

The contemporary phase, which can be said to begin with Christianskirkjan (Christian’s Church) in Klaksvík, is distinguished by the size and architectural qualities of the churches – a union of functionality and sacred expression – and by a growing need for congregation rooms in addition to the church space itself. In a number of cases, this has been solved by fitting out the basement, which is often a necessary feature in the sloping terrain. However, most church buildings initiated since 2010 have also included actual high-quality parish community centres built in the immediate vicinity of the old churches and cemeteries and with respect for the historical environment. Several churches have been modernised and expanded, just as the construction of new churches is in the preparation phase.

Other places of religious service

Churches should also include buildings which, without being consecrated churches, are however designed for religious services or can be used as such. In the Middle Ages, the word bønhús (house of prayer) was used, and the word is still seen as the first part of a number of local place names. It is assumed that ongoing archaeological investigations will result in a more precise clarification of the purpose and use of these buildings.

Around 1880, when schools were built all over the country, the classroom of schools in a number of small and remote villages without a church was provided with the necessary furniture, allowing it to be used for regular perish clerk church service and, when the vicar visited, also for communion. Some schools even had a tower and a church bell. This use often led to a desire in the villages to have its own church, as is seen, for example, in Leirvík, Gjógv and Sandvík. A fine example of this dual function can be found in the abandoned village of Slættanes, where a teacher designed the school modelled after the church of his home village, Skálavík. In 1966, when the village of Ørðavík had a chapel which was used as a church with certain restrictions, the name Bønhús was used again. It is now used about a few mission houses and abandoned schools where services are held for the local population, without there being any talk of separating these villages as new parishes or establishing new parochial church councils.

Free church buildings

A simple and functional design is a common feature of the first free church buildings. In recent years, several modern free church buildings have been built, and a good example of modern church building is Keldan’s premises with space for about 1,000 people. The style is simple and functional, and light, sound and multimedia equipment has been installed. In most free churches, projectors are used to show announcements, songs, presentations for sermons, videos, etc. However, the architecture of the Adventist church and the Catholic Mariukirkjan, both in Tórshavn, is based on traditional church references.

Further reading

• Association activities and volunteering on the Faroe Islands
• Building style on the Faroe Islands
• Crafts and design on the Faroe Islands
• Gøtu Fornminnisfelag (Museum Association)
• Havnar Kirkja (Tórshavn Cathedral)
• Languages and dialects on the Faroe Islands
• Líkhús
• Literature on the Faroe Islands
• Museums of cultural history and heritage on the Faroe Islands
• Religion and religious communities on the Faroe Islands
• The bishop’s palace complex
• The Magnus Cathedral
• The parish church in Kirkjubøur
• Tradition and tales on the Faroe Islands

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