Skjold is a small village of about 960 people on the E134, roughly 25 kilometres northeast of Haugesund. The name comes from the Old Norse word for "shield". Not much happens here today, but the place carries an unusual scar.
On September 13, 1992, the village church was deliberately set on fire and burned to the ground. It was a wooden log church from 1887 and the centre of community life. The arsonist was Varg Vikernes, the most notorious figure in the Norwegian black metal scene. He was convicted in 1994 for burning Skjold Church along with Holmenkollen Chapel and Åsane Church, on top of a first-degree murder conviction. The church burnings were part of a wave of attacks by black metal musicians targeting Christian churches across Norway in the early 1990s. By 1996, at least 50 churches had been attacked.
For a small rural community, losing the church was devastating. It was not just a building. It was where generations had been baptised, married, and buried. The replacement, completed in 1998, is a white stone church in an octagonal design by architect Nils A. Vikanes. It looks nothing like the original, which was a deliberate choice.
Before the 1965 municipal merger, Skjold was its own municipality. It was split several times: Tysvær was separated from it in 1849, and Vats in 1891. What remains is a quiet village along the fjord where the E134 passes through on its way east.
On September 13, 1992, the village church was deliberately set on fire and burned to the ground. It was a wooden log church from 1887 and the centre of community life. The arsonist was Varg Vikernes, the most notorious figure in the Norwegian black metal scene. He was convicted in 1994 for burning Skjold Church along with Holmenkollen Chapel and Åsane Church, on top of a first-degree murder conviction. The church burnings were part of a wave of attacks by black metal musicians targeting Christian churches across Norway in the early 1990s. By 1996, at least 50 churches had been attacked.
For a small rural community, losing the church was devastating. It was not just a building. It was where generations had been baptised, married, and buried. The replacement, completed in 1998, is a white stone church in an octagonal design by architect Nils A. Vikanes. It looks nothing like the original, which was a deliberate choice.
Before the 1965 municipal merger, Skjold was its own municipality. It was split several times: Tysvær was separated from it in 1849, and Vats in 1891. What remains is a quiet village along the fjord where the E134 passes through on its way east.