Hello, friends, travelers, and community members! I hope everyone is doing well. It's Wednesday, which means it's time to share a midweek walk in our community and some enjoyable experiences. We visited the Bamble Church, which is known as Norway's first Neo-Gothic church, alongside the ruins of the Olav Church. We hadn't originally planned to visit this church, as our friend Anni lives nearby, and over the years, we've visited her several times. However, we had never thought of seeing the church. The last few years it was under some repairs.

Last week, we celebrated Anni's birthday, and after enjoying a hearty meal, we decided to go for a walk. We were fortunate with the weather—sunshine, no wind, and pleasant walking temperatures.

The church is conveniently located just 200-300 meters from Anni's house, right along the old highway E18.

On the other side of the highway, you can find charming, typical Norwegian houses surrounded by beautiful green landscapes.

The highway E18 is an optional route used when rushed traffic, so for people's convenience this small cross-under the highway. It is a small shortcut to get to the other side.

On the other side, some residential houses are also located.

After crossing the road, we enter the rear side of the church campus. There are some houses surrounding the church, some storage rooms, the priest's residence, etc.

This attractive stained glass window must be very beautiful at night.

The west side of the church wall. Very skilled woodwork.

Here is the front side of the church. I’ll share a bit about it based on what I heard from Anni and what is written on the information sign. Bamble Church is a neo-Gothic wooden church located in the Bamble and Herre parish within Bamble municipality. It was built of wood and consecrated in 1845. Although it looks small, it has a seating capacity of 400. Unfortunately, Norwegian churches are not open to visitors every day; they are typically open on Sundays and for special services, which are the only opportunities to see the interior. We visited on a Saturday, so it was closed. The church is situated directly north of the cemetery, which contains the ruins of a previous stone church from the Middle Ages.

The monument for people from that parish killed in 2world war.

The whole area surrounded the church

If we know the read Norwegian, here is the sign written about the Bamble church and Olav church.

On the south side of the church lies the cemetery, and beyond it, the ruins of the old Olav church. All the graves are clean and decorated with flowers; some are new, while others date back to the 19th century. Walking along that path isn't scary; it feels more like a stroll in a park. Walking along that path isn't scary; it feels more like a stroll in a park.

At the end of the cemetery, the church's ruin, it was made of stone. The sign mentioned it was built in 1150 and was the largest church in Telemark County. It was bigger than what ruins are standing there now.

This metal sign indicates the background of this church. It mentioned it was classic Roman Northern style. When it started falling apart, the new Bamble church had planned to serve the parish of the surrounding area. The church was consecrated in 1845 and 1846 the old church was demolished.

We were strolling around it had some evidence of how nice it was at that time. After seeing this arch no doubt about.

After looking at the ruins of this historical building, we just imagined how beautiful it was at that time. With this thought, we turned back and headed to Anni's house. But I didn't forget to take a few more photos of the church in evening lights.

This is all about today's post. Thank you for stopping by. [//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 59.00863 lat 9.66810 long d3scr))

Wooden church