Fana church

The first mention of the church at Fana in written sources is in 1228, but the rounded portal in the south wall of the nave and the lower part of the wall indicate that the church may be older. The Fana church was in medieval times linked to a hospital, maybe it was this function that gave it its reputation as a place of pilgrimage. In 1303 this church was one of the 14 chapels belonging to Håkon V Magnusson. This is when the chancel probably got its two large gothic tracery windows. The church is also supposed to have had a western steeple in the Middle Ages, but following a fire in 1644 a new steeple, formed as a dome, was erected above the western gable. In 1870 the church was reconstructed. The nave was extended to the west and had four large windows put in at both longitudinal walls. The chancel was made higher; to the west a church vestibule was built in brick with a wooden steeple above. In 1926-27 the church was restored. The nave was now given three smaller windows in each longitudinal wall. To the west the architect Frederik Konow Lund built a steeple base modelled on Voss church, and put on a ridge turret of the same type as was there before 1870. The miraculous crucifix is believed to have been removed from the church around 1620 by the officer at Bergenhus, Thord Roed.