Skien kirke

Address: Amtmand Aalls gate 1, 3717 Skien, Norway

Skien kirke (Skien church) is a church built in the Gothic style, dating from 1894. The church is the main church in Skien and has 1,200 seats.

The church is 47 meters long with a tower height of 68 meters, the interior height is 17 meters. The church was designed by architect Martin Hagbarth Schytte-Berg; inspiration was taken from the German architects John Vollmer and John Otzens. Skien kirke was consecrated on the 31st of August 1894 by Kristiansand Bishop Johan Christian Heuch.

The current church was built on the basis of expectations that Skien would have a bishop, and that the new church was to become Cathedral (which did not occur).

Skien's old church (Christianskirken), which was on what today's market place, was lost in the great fire of 1886.

The organ in Skien Church is one of the nation's largest, with over 5000 pipes. The original organ in Skien was built in 1894 by Olsen & Jørgensen in Kristiania (now Oslo), and had 31 stops over 2 manuals and pedal. A third manual with eight stops was added in 1936, and a certain amount of revoicing was carried out. This work was carried out by Jørgensen.

The last work to be carried out on the organ was also by Jørgensen, in 1954. At this point, the action was changed from tracker to electropneumatic, and the organ was augmented to four manuals and 70 stops.

[sources: wikipedia; http://www.photomannen.no/?p=1244&fwcc=1&fwcl=1&fwl]

Organ 1894; 1936; 1954-
Builder: Olsen & Jørgensen (1894); Jørgensen (1936 & 1954) Couplers:

II/I

III/I

IV/I

I/Ped

II/Ped

III/Ped

IV/Ped

Ped 4'

Other notes
Combinations: Piano; Mezzoforte; Forte; Tutti; 'Tunger I' (Reeds I); 'Tunger 2' (Reeds 2); 4 separate pedal combinations; 4 free combinations

Crescendo

Reeds off; Mixtures off; 16' pedal/manual off