Gammelgarn Church

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Gammelgarn Church
Church of Gammelgarn with the Kastal
Church of Gammelgarn with the Kastal from the south

The church of Gammelgarn ( Swedish Gammelgarn kyrka ) is a country church on Gotland in the parish Gammelgarn of the parish (Swedish församling ) Östergarn. It is located on the east coast, 40 km southeast of Visby and 4 km southwest of Katthammarsvik .

Church building

The church and the churchyard are surrounded by a dry stone wall with a wide Gothic entrance gate on the west side. The church is made of limestone and consists of a rectangular nave , a narrower, just closing choir in the east, a somewhat narrower vestibule in the west and a sacristy in the north. In the West, one with is shingles covered bell tower in the form of a 1755 built roof rider . The choir and nave were built in the high Gothic style in the 14th century ; the western part, with the exception of the ridge turret, comes from the original Romanesque church.

The capital band of the particularly valuable south portal is richly decorated with sculptures that are attributed to Master Egypticus and depict biblical motifs from Genesis . At the top of the portal are two head-shaped sculptures that date from the Romanesque period. Today's choir portal was the south portal of the Romanesque church and was made by the master Egypticus. The north side also has a portal that is at the height of the ridge turret. There is a well-preserved castle from the 12th century near the church .

The interior is a high Gothic church space. A slender central column supports four high cross vaults. The nave is connected to the choir and the vestibule by wide pointed arches. There is a valuable altar in the choir. On the north wall there are lime paintings that are attributed to the " Passion Master ". In the floor of the choir there is a tombstone with a runic inscription , which reminds of a woman named Hallvi. On the left there is a medieval baptismal font and on the right a pulpit from the end of the 17th century.

history

There are no remains of the oldest church at this location; but a small wooden church was probably built here towards the end of the 11th century or the beginning of the 12th century. In addition, a fortified tower (Kastal) made of stone was built in the last quarter of the 12th century. In the first quarter of the 13th century, the construction of a Romanesque church made of cut limestone began. First a short nave and a narrower, presumably just completed choir were built. The construction was then continued with a nave with a four-part vault in the early Gothic style.

In the second quarter of the 14th century work began on building a new, larger church. First a new choir and a sacristy with possibly the eastern part of the current nave and its southern window were built. In the next construction phase, the easternmost part of the old nave with the four vaults and the central column was demolished. Finally, the new, larger nave was completed. The vestibule to the west is what remains of the Romanesque church. The south portal was made by a stonemason and sculptor who worked on Gotland in the first half of the 14th century and is called "Egypticus" according to a suggestion by the art historian Johnny Roosval . In the capital volume of the portal he shows Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden , the Fall , the expulsion from Paradise, Adam and Eve at work, Cain's murder of Abel and Noah's ark . On the northern wall of the nave, the “Passion Master” created a series of lime paintings in the middle of the 15th century. In the late Middle Ages these and the cross vault were damaged in a fire.

Towards the end of the 17th century, the church received a pulpit, which was probably made by the master joiner Jochim Sterling from Visby . In the 17th and 18th centuries, black decorations were created around the windows and in the vaulted ceiling. In 1752 the choir roof was lowered, and in 1755 the walls were raised in the western part and the strong, shingle-covered roof turret was built in the west. In the 1760s a tower room was set up, which was painted by Magnus Möller in 1768, as were the church pews, the choir bench and a screen in the church. In the southern nave wall and the east wall of the choir, three narrow window openings were enlarged.

From 1956 to 1958 a comprehensive restoration was carried out by the architects Erik Fant and Olle Karth. Among other things, the central column of the church and the ribless cross vaults were restored. A fragment of the series of frescoes from the 15th century was also exposed, while the square paintings and the painted vault ribs from the 18th century were whitewashed.

In November 2000 the church was closed for a new interior renovation and restoration. The medieval painting fragments on the north wall have been cleaned and parts of the 17th and 18th century decoration have been reconstructed; the remaining parts of the wall were cleaned and whitewashed. Finally, the square paintings and the painted vault ribs from the 18th century were reassembled. On the second day of Pentecost in 2001 the church was consecrated again by Bishop Björn Fjärstedt.

Furnishing

  • Font from the middle of the 13th century with a bowl from the 14th century
  • Altar from the middle of the 14th century
  • Pulpit by Jochim Sterling, Visby (approx. 1670–1690)
  • Manorial bench from 1768

organ

In 1965 John Grönvall from Lilla Edet built the church's first pipe organ, a five-part work with slider chests and mechanical action .

Disposition:

manual
Dumped 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
Forest flute 2 ′
Sharp II chorus.
pedal
Sub bass 16 ′

Kastal

As with some churches along the Gotland coast, there is also a free-standing watch and defense tower here, which is called " Kastal ". The tower of Gammelgarn was built in 1190 and extensively restored in 2006.

gallery

  • Church and defense tower from the 12th century

  • Detail of the portal from the master Egypticus

  • Altar (mid-14th century)

  • Pulpit clock to check the length of the sermon

  • Ribless cross vault

literature

  • Marita Jonsson, Sven-Olof Lindquist: Gotland cultural guide. Almqvist & Wiksell, Uppsala 1993, ISBN 91-88036-09-X , page 155.
  • Erland Lagerlöf, Gunnar Svahnström: The churches of Gotland. Stein, Kiel 1991, ISBN 3-89392-049-8 , pages 138-140
  • Våra kyrkor , Klarkullens förlag, Västervik 1990, ISBN 91-971561-0-8 , page 685 (Swedish).
  • Nationalencyklopedin , multimedia 2000 plus (Swedish)
  • Tore Johansson (Red.): Inventarium över svenska orglar, 1989: II Visby stift. Förlag Svenska orglar, Tostared 1990, ISSN  1100-2700 (Swedish).

Web links

Commons : Church of Gammelgarn (page)  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Kirche von Gammelgarn (category)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 57 ° 24 ′ 16.5 ″  N , 18 ° 48 ′ 16 ″  E