The church and Chrisitanity in the Arctics
- Details
- Category: Exhibitions
The voluntary workers of Nanoq have during 2009 built a church on the museum area. Our church is a copy of one of the world’s northernmost churches that was originally built in the village of Uummannaq on Nortwestern Greenland in 1909. Only then Christianity, brought there by reverend Gustav Olsen, reached the Thule-Inuits.
The first contact between Christianity and Greenland was in 1721 when the Danish priest Hans Egede arrived. Later contacts were also taken by the Moravian Church in the 1730s. The original church in Uummannaq stood only for a few decades, after which the hard weather and winds wore it down.
The church of Nanoq was inaugurated on May 21st 2010. At the same time the museum also opened its summer exhibition 'Christianity on Greenland and in the Arctic'. In the church it is possible to hold weddings, christenings and other ceremonies. We chose the name 'Avannaata Ulloriaa' for our church, which means 'North Star' in Greenlandic. This is also for paying homage to the first church/missionary station that Gustav Olsen together with the Intuits built in 1909. Their church was given the name 'Nordstjernen', which in Danish also means 'North Star'.
