Grytviken Church
Grytviken Church, also known as the Whalers Church, stands in Grytviken on South Georgia, and is the only church in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It was built in 1913 as a Lutheran church and was part of the Church of Norway.
Today the church belongs to the Crown and is in the care of the South Georgia Heritage Trust. It holds occasional church services and marriage ceremonies.
The church had a cameo appearance in the 2006 animated film Happy Feet.
History and architecture
The church is a Neo-Gothic church. It was pre-built in Norway and erected in Grytviken by whalers led by the renowned Carl Anton Larsen around 1912-1913, and consecrated on Christmas Day 1913.
The church consists of a single nave leading to a small communion table. A small library is attached to the side by the chancel. Inside, worshippers (and now visitors) are seated on long wood benches. The floor's dark wood planks contrast with the white walls and ceiling. A second floor is accessible from a staircase at the front entrance. From the second floor, visitors can view the nave or look outside.
This typical Norwegian church, one of the most southern churches on earth, was consecrated on Christmas Day in 1913.
In 1922, a funeral service for Sir Ernest Shackleton was conducted in this church before his burial amongst 64 others in the church cemetery.[1] The cemetery, located approximately 750 yard to the south on the other end of Grytviken Harbour, also holds empty graves for lost whalers at sea.[2]
The church was heated by a stove at the front, though this was decommissioned during the last major refurbishment of the building on safety grounds.
There are two church bells that can be rung.
Pastor
The church was led by Kristen Løken, from 1913 to 1914. Løken was born in 1885 in Lillehammer in Norway. He was appointed Pastor of South Georgia and arrived in 1912 to take his post. He was responsible for supervising the building of the church building as well. Løken left his church in 1914 and was the only pastor for this church. Løken died in 1975.
Grytviken Cemetery
The Grytviken Cemetery, associated with the church, is located about 750 yards away to the south. As a burial site, it predates the church, having whalers' graves before 1902. It holds 64 graves, including for nine from 1912 when a typhoid epidemic hit the whaling station.
Here lies Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) and of his fellow polar explorer Frank Wild (1873-1939), his ashes buried here in 2011. Félix Artuso, an Argentinian submarine officer who was killed in the 1982 British recapture of South Georgia from Argentina is buried in the graveyard.[3][4]
Restoration and maintenance
In April, 1982, during the invasion of South Georgia by Argentinian military forces, members of a British Antarctic Survey team were invited by British marines to take shelter in the church.[5]
After years of abandonment and weathering the harsh elements of the region (roof damaged in 1994), the church has been renovated by the keepers of South Georgia Museum and volunteers in 1996 – 1998.[6]
See also
- South Georgia Museum - one of a few active structures in town
- Løken Pond - named for the church's only pastor
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Grytviken Church) |
References
- ↑ Endurance (by Caroline Alexander. London: Bloomsbury. 1998)
- ↑ Wap Online: Church in Antarctica
- ↑ Cemeteries of South Georgia: Grytviken Cemetery
- ↑ Ernest Shackleton's grave - Wild Island
- ↑ Freedman, Lawrence (2005). The Official History of the Falklands Campaign: The origins of the Falklands war. Routledge. p. 13-14. ISBN 0-7146-5206-7.
- ↑ Grytviken Church (Whalers Church) - Wondermondo
Coordinates: 54°16′48″S 36°30′37″W / 54.28°S 36.51028°W