Fardhem Church
The Church of Fardhem ( Swedish Fardhems kyrka ) was one of the first after the Gutasaga to be built on the Swedish island of Gotland . However, it cannot be the current church, but a previous building that was probably made of wood. It is located in the parish (swed. Församling ) Fardhem, 3.5 km northwest of Hemse, 42 km south of Visby and 12 km from the west coast.
Church building
The oldest part of the Romanesque church building is the choir, built at the end of the 12th century, with a semi-circular apse that is not detached . The nave was built on it around 1200 , while the huge church tower was probably not built until the middle of the 13th century. The specialty of the church is that the Gothic renovation, which most of the other country churches on the island went through, did not take place here. It was not until 1872 that the sacristy , designed according to a design by Axel Herman Hägg (1835–1921), was added.
The rather broad and vaulted choir portal has remarkable reliefs that are difficult to interpret in terms of iconography. On the outer door frame a meeting of Mary with Elisabeth, the ascension of Alexander and a vertical lion (probably as a symbol for evil) are depicted. On the inside there is a rider with " oath rings " held up in his hands, a representation that is otherwise known from Gotland picture stones . Below are the apostles Philip and Jacob, opposite a bishop with a strange, ancient miter , which is perhaps due to the influence of the Orthodox Church on Gotland. There is no counterpart to these early and rather primitive reliefs on Gotland.
The windows built into the nave in the 1850s were partially removed again in 1951/52. A smaller window above the choir portal was bricked up, while a closed one in the north wall of the nave was reopened. When this window was opened, traces of medieval lime painting, presumably from the 14th century, were discovered. The ornamental paintings in the choir vault were probably made in 1719.
Facility
Only the foot of the medieval baptismal font is preserved, which was created by the anonymous master Semi-Byzantios (cf. Hamra ) in the second half of the 12th century. The font used today was carved in Burgsvik at the end of the 17th century . The pulpit with the monogram of King Fredrik I (1720–1751) was created in the 1720s. The number plate, dated 1743, may have been made by cabinet maker Johan Hernell. The altar decoration, a wooden crucifix, was created as part of the restoration in 1951/52. It is a copy of the Triumphal Cross in Träkumla Church .
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 .
- Erik Nylén , Jan Peder Lamm: Picture stones on Gotland. 2nd expanded and completed German edition. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1991, ISBN 3-529-01823-6 .
Web links
- guteinfo (Swedish, with pictures)
- Orgelanders (Swedish, with pictures)
- Web gallery Gotland (Swedish, with pictures)
- Horsemen with oaths from Fardhem Church (Swedish)
- Building register at Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish)
Coordinates: 57 ° 15 ′ 50.2 ″ N , 18 ° 20 ′ 29.6 ″ E