08.08.18 - New tourist attraction near Nuuk: A Hernnhut church on Uummannaq island

Within the last six years Nuuk commune has spent a month every summer to restore the old churh in the capital municipality. This church had been listed some 30 years ago. This restoration project is now complete. The Herrnhut (Moravian) church is to be opened during the fall of 2008 by the major of Nuuk.

Within the last six years Nuuk commune has spent a month every summer to restore the old churh in the capital municipality. This church had been listed some 30 years ago. This restoration project is now complete. The Herrnhut (Moravian) church is to be opened during the fall of 2008 by the major of Nuuk.

Director in business administration in Nuuk commune: Inunnguaq Petersen tells greenland.com, that the next stage in the project is to restore the interior of the church to make it look like when the Hernnhutter (Moravians) used it. In connection with this restoration the animal enclosure will also be restored.

Because the house is listed tourists are not allowed to stay the night in the former church. However, the Nuuk commune is planning to cooperate with the National Greenlandic museum and Nuuk Tourism to find another house in Uummannaq island for the purpose of overnight guests.

Background: Herrnhutter (Moravians) in Greenland.
The village of Uummannaq, which should not be mistaken for the town with the same name in northern Greenland, was depopulated in 1951. The village is situated on the southwestern side of a smaller dome shaped island of the same name. The Herrnhutter (Moravians) built their station in Uummannaq to create a gathering place for those who lived far from the already established missionary stations in Nuuk Fjord in 1861.

The Herrnhutter (Moravians) had been stationed to Greenland from Germany to assist the Danish/Norwegian missionary Hans Egede. Their mission were to convert the Greenlandic people to Christianity in 1733. Instead of two closely collaborating Danish and German missionaries, there were two missionary groups competing against each other.

The German mission represented another religious direction within the Lutheran religion. The strained relationship between the two missionary groups lasted until the Herrnhutter (Moravians) decided to leave “The land of the People” during the summer of 1900. This decision was taken after the head of the missionaries in Germany had considered the situation, but it was also partly due to the pressure from the Danish Government as Greenland at the time was a closed country. Another reason was also that the Greenlandic people were very poor during the Herrnhutter’s (Moravians) mission.

There are tales of how poorly the Greenlandic people were dressed, and how they weren’t suited for the arctic climate. The Herrnhutter’s (Moravians) mission was handed over to the Danish mission as the Herrnhutter (Moravians) resigned from Greenland.

The Herrnhutter (Moravians) received in 1861 an assembly kit from the master carpenter Kühn in Copenhagen. The kit should contain both the church and housing for the missionary. The church hall was later in 1903 taken apart from the missionary house and was moved to Kangeq on a raft and reconstructed as a church in 1904. Hereafter the other half in Uummannaq functioned as a church and a school.