10 Tvøroyrar kirkja (The Church of Tvøroyri

Consecrated: 1908

Address: Kirkjubrekkan 23 800 Tvøroyri

Opening hours: 31 May–28 August: Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m.–1 p.m.

Church service: Sundays, 11 a.m.

Whichever way you approach Tvøroyri, the church is one of the first things you will notice. Norwegian in origin and with a Celtic cross as its coat of arms, it harkens back to the roots of Christianity and Christian faith in the Faroe Islands.

This is the second of two churches that have been built in Tvøroyri.

The church was built because of a population explosion in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Froðba is the fjord’s ancient church site; the earliest churches might hail all the way back to the Celtic era.

The last church in Froðba was built in 1840. This church was moved to Tvøroyri in 1856. It was rebuilt where people first settled in Tvøroyri, and the church lends the neighbourhood its name, Valurin, or Kirkeval (Church Field) as it originally was called. The old church was finally moved to the village of Sandvík.

Plans were made to build a new church on a new site. When building commenced in 1906, the church was to be built with stone walls. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, it turned out to be

far too expensive. Therefore, only the foundation was made with stones.

J. Mortensen og Sønner, at the time the biggest shipowners in the country, offered to buy a wooden church abroad and pay what lacked in the budget.

The offer was accepted. The church’s architect, the Dane Viggo Bertram, drew a wooden church that could be set on the foundation.

The church was made at the Norwegian factory Strømmen trevarefabrikk, moved to the Faroe Islands, and set up in Tvøroyri. The work to erect the church began in 1907 and was completed in the spring of 1908. The church was consecrated on Ascension Day the same year.

The church holds 500 congregants.

The church’s first instrument was a harmonium.

The church got a pipe organ in 1924. It had 8 stops and was built by the organ builders Frobenius in Copenhagen.

When major renovations were undertaken in the early 1980s, a new organ was acquired.

The new organ was built by Marcussen organ builders in Åbenrå in 1986. It has 18 stops.

The current altar piece is a glass painting made by the Danish artist Ernst Trier. It was installed for the church’s golden jubilee in 1958. It is the first glass painting in a Faroese church.

The original glass pane contained the lower five pictures.

Later, the artist was asked to add another picture, depicting the enthroned Christ.

After he started working on the piece, he suddenly died. His brother, Holmer Trier, who also was an artist, completed the work.