Tønsberg Cathedral

The Cathedral of Tønsberg (Norwegian: Tønsberg Domkirke ), the Evangelical Lutheran Church bishop in the southern Norwegian city of Tønsberg and is the seat of the diocese of Tønsberg. It was originally a parish church, but was charged with the founding of the diocese, which seceded in 1948 from the Diocese of Oslo, to the rank of a cathedral.

Few hundred years ago Tønsberg was an important ecclesiastical center in southern Norway. In the Middle Ages there were seven churches and three monasteries in place, of which only ruins remain. Today's neo-Gothic brick church was built over the ruins of St. Lawrence, which was built in the 12th century and 1814 demolished. Builder of the church was completed in 1858 the Danish-Norwegian architect Christian Heinrich Grosch. Already in 1939 its first restoration under Arnstein Arne Berg, who gave the cathedral its present appearance. The increased central nave is separated by two rows of columns of the lower aisles.

The altarpiece of the church shows the warring Jesus in Gethsemane, which in 1760 by JP Lindegård was painted. The artists of the pulpit from 1621 is not known; as motifs are seen with their symbols of the four evangelists. Pulpit, altar and other paintings that show the baptism of Jesus and the Last Supper, originate from the old St. Mary's Church. The bell tower with three bells, the oldest from 1530 also comes from the Marienkirche. The smallest of the bell was taken from the church of St. Lawrence and is from 1685. Recent bell was donated during the restoration in 1939 by the Tønsberger savings bank. The stained glass windows, also created on the occasion of the restoration of Per Vigeland, some motifs from the Old and New Testament. Also comes the fresco over the south door of it, which portrays Jesus as a good shepherd. For church treasure includes two precious Bibles: one from 1550 and the other from 1589th