King Oscar II’s Chapel in Grense Jakobselv is perched on a little hill in front of the mountainside, and is clearly visible from the sea and from the Russian side of the border river. It is in a visually strategic position. With its natural stone walls and simple neo-Gothic forms, the chapel was in keeping with the European architectural trend of the latter half of the nineteenth century, constructed of stone that was quarried in the locality. Parliament decided that a greystone church should be built as a border marker. Thus it was not church service that took precedence, but the need to mark the border.

The chapel is a long church with a square tower over the entrance section, facing towards the sea and the north-west. The tower cowl rises from a pyramid form up into an octagonal high, pointed form, ending in a spire. The choir is created as a narrower and lower space than the nave, and has broken corners. The walls are of unplastered rubble, irregular stone built and pointed with mortar, and all the openings have a pointed arch upper finish. The gable roof is covered with square slate slabs.

1866-1869

Arkitekt Jakob Wilhelm Nordan

The State

Assembly Hall, Church

Natural stone, wood

church

natural stone

wood

neo-gothic

tower

spire

steeple

random rubble

gable roof

slate

Hage, Ingebjørg, Elin Haugdal, Bodil Ruud &

Sveinulf Hegstad (eds): Arkitektur i Nord-Norge, Bergen 2007.