Exploring the Past: The Norwegian Church Heritage Collation Project

By Thomas Alexander Husøy-Ciaccia

In 2022 the new charity Norwegian Church Cardiff Bay (NCCB) officially took over the Norwegian Church Arts Centre in Cardiff Bay from the former Norwegian Church Preservation Trust.

One of the charity’s main aims was to establish a heritage programme at the church, highlighting the history of the Norwegian Seamen’s Mission in Wales (in addition to the church in Cardiff Bay, there were other churches located in Newport, Swansea, and Barry), historical connections between Wales and Norway, and the more recent history of the church. 

In the autumn of 2022, before the NCCB took over, the Welsh-Norwegian Society sent out a call for volunteers to help realise this heritage project. My wife Olivia Husøy-Ciaccia and I offered our assistance as volunteers for this project. With support from the Chair of NCCB, Martin Price, we were tasked with writing a funding bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund to gain the financial means to execute the project. At the time (and at present), I held the role of Treasurer of the Welsh-Norwegian Society. The funding bid was successful and through it the NCCB obtained the funds to hire a professional Heritage Officer, a role which I was delighted to be offered.

Since September 2022 it has been my responsibility to conduct research and collate as much of the historical information about the church as possible. This brief introduction provides the background to how the heritage project came to be. For the remainder of this article I will highlight two recent developments in the project so far, starting with the new digital touchscreen kiosk, now in the Norwegian Church. 

The Digital Touchscreen

One of the most important aspects of the heritage collation project at the Norwegian Church Arts Centre is to make as much information about the church available to the public as possible. One of the new devices we have purchased to achieve this is a digital touchscreen, which is now in the church. This has been installed with historical content provided by Tiger Bay – Heritage and Cultural Exchange, which is collaborating in the heritage collation project.

The information on this touchscreen kiosk currently tells the story of Cardiff Bay over the last few hundred years. A similar touchscreen can be found at Craft in the Bay, which also features the material supplied by Tiger Bay HCE.

Our touchscreen will focus on the history of the Norwegian church in Cardiff, but will also feature some information about the Norwegian Seamen’s Church and its Missions in Swansea, Barry, and Newport. Additionally, it will shed light on the social history of Norwegians in South Wales, including the history of the Welsh-Norwegian Society.

The screen has already received keen interest from visitors and we hope that it will become even more popular once it is fully populated with historical information and images, which will be available in English, Welsh, and Norwegian. 

Research trip to Norway

As I write, I am currently on a two-week research trip to Bergen in Norway, where I am visiting the Seamen’s Church’s archive and museum, the Maritime Museum, and the Regional State Archives in Bergen. These are three institutions which hold relevant material for the heritage project.

I spent the first days of the research trip in the historical collections of the Seamen’s Mission, which has important documentation on the history and development of the church. They have a large photo archive as well as a complete collection of Bud og Hilsen, which is the journal of the Seamen’s Church. The first issue of this journal dates to 1865, and in earlier numbers often contained reports from the various missions entitled “Fra Cardiff” (from Cardiff) or “Fra Antwerp” (from Antwerp); these supplied very useful information about historical developments and affairs and the various Norwegian churches across the world. They also have anniversary books produced about the Norwegian Seamen’s Church throughout its history which provide useful summaries of the historical developments at the various stations, including Cardiff.

At present the Norwegian Church Arts Centre has a modest number of artefacts from its history on loan from the Seamen’s Church’s historical collection, such as the historical baptismal font and some candlestick holders. The latter were given to the Cardiff Church by Hvaler Parish Council in 1927.

I have also spent time at the Maritime Museum in Bergen, where I consulted more issues of Bud og Hilsen as well looked through parts of their extensive photography collection and reference sections. The second week of the trip will be used looking at the collections related to the church held by the Regional State Archive in Bergen, which holds an extensive collection related to the Norwegian Churches in South Wales and further afield. 

HERITAGE Exhibition in the NORWEGIAN CHURCH

As a part of this project, we are aiming to create an exhibition to open on May 17^th focusing on the history of Norwegians in Wales.

If anyone would like to lend any items to support this exhibition or help us to organise it, please contact me at thomas@norwegianchurchcardiff.com. These items could be an old artefact, photos, home made crafts, etc.

Everything will be carefully cared for, documented and returned after the exhibition closes.