Svalbard Church التي كتبها torehum

In July 1921 "Our Saviour´s Church" was constructed in Longyearbyen. The church was completed in 50 days and consecrated 28 August 1921. It was entirely sponsored by the Great Norwegian Spitsbergen Coal Company. The church's official status was still unclear after the Svalbard Treaty had given Norway the responsibility for the archipelago. The case was taken up by the government, and Bishop Eivind Berggrav held the first unofficial visitation in 1935. The war came to Svalbard in 1941, and Svalbard was evacuated. The Russians were sent to Murmansk, while the Norwegian went by boat to England. Minister, Kruse, took the silver altar, baptismal font and the church books for the voyage to England. In 1943, Longyearbyen was bombed by the German battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, and the church burned down. January 1949 Severin H. R. Riiber was appointed the first official pastor of Svalbard. It took some time to build a new church, and until 1956 the foundation stone for a new church was layed. The new church was finally inaugurated and consecrated on 14 August 1958. Tha canldesticks and the font of silver, which was a gift from King Haakon VII and Queen Maud is currently in place in the new Svalbard Church.