The red brick church was built in a cruciform design in 1894 using plans drawn up by the architect Hagbarth Martin Schytte-Berg.

The church is shaped like a Latin cross where it stands on a ridge overlooking the harbour, which reinforces the effect of the sky-reaching towers.

The artistic decoration in Skien Church is primarily characterized by stained-glass windows in the choir, transept, baptism sacristy, and the ornamentation on the walls and ceilings.

The professor and architect Jørgen Henrich Rawert was commissioned to build a new church.

The new church was nicknamed Christianskirken, after the current King of Denmark-Norway, Christian VII.

[5] In 1886, a fire broke out again in the town of Skien, and the church burned again and it was not salvageable.

The only items saved were the baptismal font (made by the sculptor Ole Henriksen), the holy vessels, two gilded wooden figures Troen and Haabet (made by carver Jacob Christian Holler), and the altarpiece painting.

(The temporary church was demolished by the municipality of Skien on 31 March 2011 - see photos of the demolition here).

That time, Hagbarth Schytte-Berg emerged victorious and was chosen to design the building.

[7][8] The master builder named Lorentz Christian Wagle from Arendal was hired to lead the construction.

The new church is a neo-Gothic cruciform building in unpolished red brick with tall, slender twin towers at the entrance on the southeast side.