The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1432 where it was mentioned in Aslak Bolt's cadastre, but there has been a church here in the Hellesylt area dating back to at least the year 1150. The first Sunnylven Church was likely a wooden stave church that was probably built in the 12th century. This church was located on the Korsbrekke farm, about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) southeast of the present site of the church in the village of Hellesylt. During the 15th or 16th centuries, the old stave church was expanded into a cruciform design by adding timber-framedtransepts to the north and south sides of the nave. At some point, the old choir for the stave church was torn down and replaced with a timber-framed choir.[3][4][5]
On 15 March 1727, a large avalanche came down the nearby mountain and destroyed the old church. At that time, they chose to replace the church with a new building, but it was also decided to build it in a new location. The new church would be built on the southwest side of the village of Hellesylt, on a hill overlooking the village. This new church was consecrated in 1730. The new building was a timber-framedcruciform design.[5][6]
The 1730 cruciform church was in use until Pentecost Sunday 1858, when it was closed and torn down shortly after. Once the site was cleared, work began on a new long church building on the same site. Work progressed over the summer and fall of 1858, and it was consecrated the following year on 7 August 1859. Captain Ludolph Rolfsen from the nearby Stryn Municipality designed the church based on drawings by Hans Linstow. Rolfsen also headed the construction of Hornindal Church and Nedstryn Church, both in the Nordfjord region to the south of here, and these churches share many features. Shipbuilder Nils A. Liaaen of Sunnylven designed Sylte Church in 1862 and was probably inspired by this church at Hellesylt.[5][6][7]
Playwright Henrik Ibsen visited Hellesylt in the summer of 1862[8] when this church was new and Sunnylven with Geiranger had just been named a separate prestegjeld (parish). The municipality of Sunnylven and the local priest, Rev. Ole Olsen Barman (born 1816),[9] was an inspiration for Ibsen's dramatic poem Brand.[10]
^Lampe, Johan Fredrik (1895). Bergens Stifts Biskoper og Præster efter Reformationen: Biografiske Efterretninger. Kristiania: Cammermeyers Boghandel. pp. 247 and 293.
^Koht, Halvdan (1954). Henrik Ibsen - eit diktarliv. Vol. 1. Oslo: Aschehoug. p. 249.
