It is located in the village of Bygland on the eastern shore of the Byglandsfjorden, just alongside the Norwegian National Road 9.

It is one of the churches for the Bygland og Årdal parish which is part of the Otredal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

The white, wooden church was built in a cruciform design in 1838 by the builder Anders Thorsen Syrtveit who used plans drawn up by the famous architect Hans Linstow.

In 1669, the old stave church was torn down and replaced with a new building.

Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in Eidsvoll later that year.