King Oscar II Chapel

King Oscar II Chapel
Kong Oscar IIs kapell
View of the chapel
King Oscar II Chapel Location in Finnmark Show map of Finnmark King Oscar II Chapel Location in Finnmark Show map of Norway
69°47′06″N 30°48′44″E / 69.7849°N 30.8121°E / 69.7849; 30.8121Coordinates: 69°47′06″N 30°48′44″E / 69.7849°N 30.8121°E / 69.7849; 30.8121
Location	Sør-Varanger, Finnmark
Country	Norway
Denomination	Church of Norway
Churchmanship	Evangelical
History
Consecrated	26 September 1869
Architecture
Status	Chapel
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Jacob Wilhelm Nordan
Completed	1869
Specifications
Capacity	72
Materials	Stone
Administration
Parish	Sør-Varanger
Deanery	Varanger prosti
Diocese	Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland

King Oscar II Chapel (Norwegian: Kong Oscar IIs kapell) is a chapel in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Grense Jakobselv. The chapel is part of the Sør-Varanger parish in the Varanger deanery in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland. This stone chapel was built in 1869 around 500 m (1600 ft) from the border with Russia. The chapel was designed by Jacob Wilhelm Nordan and it seats about 72 people.

In 1851, the Norwegian settlement in the Grense Jakobselv area had a strong desire to have its own chapel. However, it was politics that would accelerate the work of construction. In 1826, the demarcation of the Norway–Russia border was completed. However, there were still disagreements between the Norwegian authorities and Russian fishermen on the national border (the Jakobselva river) after that time. After reporting several harsh confrontations between Norwegian and Russian fishermen, the county Governor of Finnmark wanted to let a naval ship from the Royal Norwegian Navy to undertake fisheries surveillance during the months with the heaviest fishing. The Interior Department wanted an independent investigation of the circumstances and sent Lieutenant Commander Heyerdahl north to familiarize themselves with the case. Heyerdahl did not share the county Governor's views on which solution. He proposed instead to erect a chapel at Grense Jakobselv. A Lutheran chapel would be an indisputable boundary marking, such as the Russian Orthodox chapel in Boris Gleb that had been used for border demarcation in 1826. In 1865 it was decided to build a chapel and parsonage at the border. In the summer of 1869, the new chapel was built and on 26 September the same year, the chapel was consecrated by Bishop Waldemar Hvoslef.