The 116-year-old Rørvik Church in the county of Nord-Trøndelag survived World War II but not the weekend game of two young boys who admitted to playing with fire in the church’s cellar. They ended up burning down the church on Saturday night.
The two boys, who haven’t been publicly identified, were spotted near the church when it began to burn and witnesses alerted police. “It was therefore possible to find them quickly and question them with their parents present,” Lars Letnes, operations leader for the Nord-Trøndelag Police District, told news bureau NTB.
They reportedly were playing with a cigarette lighter and the fire spread quickly because sawdust had been used as insulation material between the church beams. Flames spread along the church walls and while some treasures inside were rescued, local officials said the church was burned beyond repair. It will need to be razed, and rebuilt.
“It’s a sad day for the community here,” Reinert Eidshaug, mayor of Vikna township, told NTB. “A lot of history was tied to the church, which was bombed and damaged during the war.” The church also had undergone several renovations in recent years.
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