Old Nesseby Church

Driving in the northern part of Norway you only find very few old buildings. Almost everything was burned down during the German retreat in 1944. The German army didn’t want to leave anything behind to the approaching Soviet troops so every village was destroyed. Only very few buildings survived.

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One of the few buildings surviving the destruction was the old church at Nesseby. If you drive out along this lonely road to Vardø/Hammingberg you will probably stop at this little church since it is the only cultural sight along the road.

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We stop a little bit to look at the church which is an old wooden building at the end of a little peninsula. The location makes the church more interesting by sitting lonely out here at the end of the peninsula. We enjoy the church from the outside – but it is closed so we can only see it from the outside.

Next to the church is pyramid shaped construction. This is an old fish drying rack which has been left behind from the 1950s when it was constructed. They had to build a new fish drying rack since the old racks had been burned during the German retreat. This construction was actually different from the older racks which had been lower. Thanks to the new construction the fish were higher above the ground so there was less insect infestation. They also changed the way they put the fish on the rack to speed up the drying process. There is actually a little sign next to the church telling the history of this traditional fish rack. The church makes a nice little place to break the journey before we continue the days drive.