The Interior of Ørland Church

Until the fire in 1766, the church chancel was decorated as a memorial gallery of the many notable owners of Austrått who were buried there. On one wall hung a commemorative board with large relief sculptures of landowner Åge Bjelke (died 1603) and his family kneeling beside a depiction of Jesus’ crucifixion. The board had on it a long memorial text, a coat of arms and symbols. Above this was another commemorative board depicting a painting of five women in foaming sea in a half sunken boat. This was a memorial to the overthrown Mrs Ingjerd Ottesdatter. Whom Henrik Ibsen called Mrs Inger of Austrått, and those of her family who perished in a shipwreck on Syltefjorden in Sunmøre in 1555. We know that the bodies were recovered from the wreck, because there is a tombstone in front of the altar, where before 1766, it was still possible to read the text: “and they stay on Sunmøre and they were found MDLV (1555)” The memorial to Mrs Inger and her family also confirms they were recovered and ends with a little satire about the god hungry women of Astrått: ‘And their bodies were found again and laid here, with their Fathers underground their souls in Heaven dwell, there by God we are found together and so you and we have something good. Amen’ The only commemorative plaque that can be found in the church today is in memory of the men from Ørlend who died during the Napoleonic war’s first battle for Denmark/Norway, namely the battle of Copenhagen Red in 1801. The original burnt in 1854, but it has been recreated based on descriptions of the original. In the church yard you can also find the graves of the famous tapestry weaver Hannah Ryggen and her husband Hans Ryggen.