Evenes - History

History

The Evenes Church was the first church in Ofoten, built about the year 1250. The original church and a subsequent church has been lost in fires; the present church is a wooden church (built in 1800) inspired by Danish Biedermeier mansion building style. Some relics from the original churches remain in the church today, most notably a stone baptismal font from the 13th century.

Liland used to be the commercial centre of the entire Ofotfjord area right up until the emergence of Narvik as a commerce/industry centre in the early 20th century.

During World War II, the Germans found the wide and fairly deep Bogen bay, with its mostly hard rock bottom well suited for anchoring, to be perfect for a naval base. Narvik is only 10 nautical miles (19 km) to the east (further into the fjord). The German battleship Tirpitz and cruiser Admiral Hipper were stationed in Bogen during part of the war (8 July - 23 October 1942, returned 11 March 1943). The battleships Scharnhorst and Lützow were based in Bogen for a shorter time. Additionally, several destroyers and submarines used Bogen as a base for shorter periods. Thus, this bay was one of Germany's most powerful naval bases during parts of the war, and constituted a very real threat to Allied Arctic Convoys. The Allies had an obvious need for intelligence about these powerful German warships, and the British provided a radio set to the local resistance group. This radio was set up at Liland, 9 km west of Bogen, and codenamed Lyra.