| Øvre Rendal Church | |
| Fullname: | Øvre Rendal kirke |
| Other Name: | Bergset kirke |
| Coordinates: | 61.8896°N 11.0787°W |
| Location: | Rendalen Municipality, Innlandet |
| Country: | Norway |
| Churchmanship: | Evangelical Lutheran |
| Denomination: | Church of Norway |
| Previous Denomination: | Catholic Church |
| Diocese: | Hamar bispedømme |
| Parish: | Øvre Rendal |
| Status: | Parish church |
| Functional Status: | Active |
| Founded Date: | 13th century |
| Consecrated Date: | 19 July 1761 |
| Architectural Type: | Cruciform |
| Materials: | Wood |
| Capacity: | 280 |
Øvre Rendal Church (Norwegian: Øvre Rendal kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Rendalen Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Bergset. It is the church for the Øvre Rendal parish which is part of the Nord-Østerdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar. The white, wooden church was built in an cruciform design in 1759 using plans drawn up by an unknown architect. The church seats about 280 people.[1] [2]
The first church in Bergset was a wooden stave church that was likely built during the 13th century. Not much is known about that building. A 13th-century crucifix that formerly hung in that church is still in existence today. Around 1665, the old church was torn down and replaced with a new church on the same site. In 1759, the old church was torn down and a new church was built on the same site soon afterwards. It was a timber-framed cruciform church. The new church was consecrated on 19 July 1761.[3] [4]
In 1814, this church served as an election church (Norwegian: valgkirke).[5] [6] Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in Eidsvoll later that year.[7]