Hamra Church (Gotland)
The Church of Hamra ( Swedish Hamra kyrka ) is a gothic - Romanesque country church on the Swedish island of Gotland . It belongs to the parish (swed. Församling ) Hoburg in the diocese of Visby .
location
The church is located 74 km south of Visby , 29 km south of Hemse and 6.5 km south of Burgsvik in the southern part of the island called Sudre .
Church building
The building history of the church is indicated by its unusual external appearance, with the tower placed asymmetrically over the southwest corner of the nave . Of the planned three-aisled basilica , only the east section with the choir , the transept and the tower above the planned center of the cross was completed. The tower and larger parts of the north transept arm, which were built around the middle of the 13th century, have been preserved. For unknown reasons, the planned nave was only made provisionally. The actual floor plan is marked by stone slabs in the grass west of the church. Instead, a radical renovation was carried out at the beginning of the 14th century, with the choir and the south transept arm being removed. The conversion was given the typical Gotland floor plan with a two-aisled nave and a narrower, straight-end choir. Window frames, the portal and other recycled stone material from the older church were found in the choir . A new, Gothic portal with rich leaf ornamentation was placed in the nave , in the old arch opening between the central square and the broken-off southern transept arm. In the old choir square, the only surviving vault of the older church, one can see the contrast to the other vaults. The window on the north wall, like the simple ogival portal below, belongs to the first church. In the west wall you can see a larger arch to the central nave, which was never built, and behind the organ the lower arch to the north aisle.
inner space
The baptism from the end of the 12th century by the anonymous master Semi-Byzantios shows, around the cupa in arcaded reliefs, the childhood story of Jesus and St. Michael. The color dates from the 18th century. A passion frieze from the 15th century extends on the north wall, beginning with the Last Supper and ending with the Pentecost miracle. The paintings in the vault date from the beginning of the 18th century.
The sandstone altarpiece in the shape of a temple gable was made in 1792. There used to be a depiction of a lamb with a flag on it. In 1953 it was replaced by a long set aside group of calvaries from around 1280, whose image of Christ shows similarities with the famous crucifix in the church of Öja . The group is said to have "originally been placed in the triumphal arch of the older church on a trot. Today's triumphal cross, like the side figures, dates from the middle or second half of the 14th century. Other medieval wood sculptures are a St. George (around 1400) above the sacristy door as well as parts of a winged altar with the coronation of Mary in the center (also around 1400) and a Christ as Man of Sorrows (mid-15th century) on the large pillar. On a side altar in the southeast corner of the nave stands the pulpit, a high-class Renaissance work made of unpainted oak with black strips.
At the church there are rune stones G 11 to G 20.
Triumphal cross from the 13th century
Semi-Byzantios baptismal font from the 12th century
Passion frieze from the 15th century
Web links
- guteinfo.com: Hamra kyrka (Swedish)
- PaGotland ( Memento from August 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (Swedish)
- Building register at Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish, source for the original Swedish article from which it was translated)
- Orgelanders (Swedish)
- Web Gallery Gotland (Swedish)
- Parish WWW page (Swedish)
Coordinates: 56 ° 58 ′ 33.9 ″ N , 18 ° 18 ′ 48.2 ″ E