Anga Church

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The single-nave church of Anga ( Anga kyrka in Swedish ) on Gotland seems to have been built in the first half of the 13th century. There was probably a break between the building of the nave and the tower . The sacristy was built only at the beginning of the 19th century, as a side-mounted, to the with an apse final chorus .

Anga Church

location

The church is located in the east of Gotland near the road 146 from Ljugarn to Slite , 30 km southeast of Visby, 26 km south of Slite, 15 km southeast of Roma and 16 km north of Ljugarn.

Church building

Apart from the extraordinarily high dome, the church gives the impression that it belongs to the normal Romanesque country churches on Gotland. What is striking, however, is the proportions of the nave, which is very short in relation to its height. It appears barely as long as the choir and shorter than the length of the facade of the tower. This is explained by the fact that the nave extends much further to the west and the tower is saddled on the nave. Its eastern walls rest on the central column and its belt arches , as in the ruins of the church in Bara .

  • Anga Church

  • Anga Church

  • pulpit

  • Wall painting

  • Anga Church

Murals

The church has one of the best preserved medieval church rooms in Gotland. The colorful lime paintings from two epochs, which came to light during restoration work in the years 1946–47, contribute in particular to this.

  • The older wall paintings from the end of the 13th century in the vault of the nave are mainly ornamental and signed. The painter Halvard is in a donation inscription in runes on the triumphal arch . The longer inscription in the same shape on the north wall of the nave is written in runes in the Old Gothic language. The inscription lists the farmers of the community who helped build the church with ox carts .
  • The paintings from the middle of the 15th century are part of the extensive work of the Passion Master . In the west the childhood of Christ is depicted, in the north the passion story and above it the legend of St. Margaretha. In the south follow a row of apostles , a weighing of souls and a representation of St. Bernard of Siena.

Furnishing

The simple baptism made of limestone is in the western part of the church. It is dated to the second half of the 13th century. The tombstone with runic inscription in the floor of the choir south of the altar probably also dates from the 13th century. On the high altar of the apse is a well-preserved winged altar from the second half of the 14th century, which is similar to that of Gammelgarn . The triumphal crucifix dates from the 15th century. The pulpit is a work from the late 17th century. According to the inscription, it was painted in 1741. The well-preserved, uniform seating dates from the beginning of the 18th century and was painted in 1748.

In the church are the rune stones G 119 from 1280, which gives information about which farmers helped build the parish church in Anga, and G 120, which names the painter of the murals.

The church interior was subjected to extensive restoration from 1946–47 according to plans by the architect Erik Fant. An external restoration took place in 1983.

literature

  • Marita Jonsson, Sven-Olof Lindquist: Gotland cultural guide. Almqvist & Wiksell, Uppsala 1993, ISBN 91-88036-09-X .
  • Erland Lagerlöf, Gunnar Svahnström: The churches of Gotland. Stein, Kiel 1991, ISBN 3-89392-049-8 .

Web links

Commons : Church of Anga  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 57 ° 28 ′ 49.3 "  N , 18 ° 42 ′ 23.2"  E