Hejde Church

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Hejde Church
Hejde Church

The Hejde Church ( Swedish Hejde kyrka ) is one of the on the Swedish island of Gotland common type of saddle Church . Similar to Garde , Follingbo , Källunge and Lye , a tall Gothic choir is followed by a lower and older nave and a tower.

Church building

The choir , which was first rebuilt in the middle of the 14th century, was to be followed by a larger nave and a mighty tower. The current choir was preceded by a small Romanesque building, which may have had an apse . The nave and the tower with its galleries on the north and south sides seem to have been performed in a manner similar to that in Burs and Lye in the mid-13th century. The sacristy was built in 1795.

The south portal of the tower, whose capitals are decorated with plant ornaments, is the main entrance today. However, the choir portal, which has been affected by the weather, is more powerful. There is no direct equivalent to this magnificent portal in Gotland portal art. Correspondences with the tower portal in Lärbro , which was carried out at the same time by the master Egypticus or his workshop, can be seen in particular in the two winged dragons on the western capital band.

The nave has a rib vault that is very unusual in Gotland church architecture, as can only be found in the church of Othem . The ribs are carried in the corners by colonnets, the capitals of which show finely carved leaf ornamentation. At this point in the choir there are consoles in the form of human heads and a monster.

interior

The church has purely ornamental medieval frescoes from two centuries. In the nave they date from the middle of the 13th century and are concentrated in the vault and on the wall above the tower arch. The paintings in the choir vault seem to have been created in connection with the vaulting. The well-preserved stained glass of the eastern choir window show an unusual light color scheme, bright colors with blue as the dominant tone. The scenes depict the fall of man, the expulsion from paradise, Adam and Eve at work, the preaching of the shepherds, as a fragment of the preaching of Mary, Christ's flagellation, crucifixion and resurrection and the blessing Christ. The stained glass from the second half of the 14th century is considered to be the latest medieval stained glass on Gotland. The sandstone altarpiece, probably carved by Jesper Gertson Smitt in Burgsvik, is dated to 1684 according to the inscription. The triumphal cross is probably a north German work from the beginning of the 16th century. The pulpit was built around 1700, but was repaired and painted in 1770–73, using a cartouche with the name code Gustaf III. received.

The most remarkable piece of inventory in the church is the sandstone baptism placed by the arch of the tower. It comes from the anonymous stone master Byzantios , who worked on Gotland in the second half of the 12th century. In the reliefs of the cuppa , a centaur, an angel with outspread wings, an aspis rider (as a symbol of weak people), a peacock, warring soldiers (good and bad), David and the lion and a cathedral puller (as a symbol of profligacy) shown. The paint residues may be original. In terms of art history, this work can be compared with those of Atlingbo , Eskelhem , Garde , Guldrupe , Hogrän , Sanda , Träkumla , Vamlingbo , Väte and Öja . The stone from Öja was exhibited in the museum of the island's capital, Visby . The baptismal fonts in Källunge and Fröjel have been preserved in fragments .

The church was restored in 1935/36 according to plans by the architect Erik Fant. In 1976 the interior was renovated.

Surname

The name Hejde is first mentioned as Heithum - in the artificial dative form of the Gotland word hajd for heather - in a copy from the 14th century.

Sigsarve vattensåg is a few 100 m east of the church .

literature

  • Erland Lagerlöf, Gunnar Svahnström: The churches of Gotland. Stein, Kiel 1991, ISBN 3-89392-049-8 .
  • Uwe Lemke: Gotland - island of the god ships . Urachhaus, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-87838-459-9 , p. 75 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Svenskt local dictionary . Språk- och folkminnesinstitutet, Uppsala 2003, ISBN 91-7229-020-X , p. 122.

Web links

Commons : Hejde kyrka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 57 ° 24 ′ 46 ″  N , 18 ° 20 ′ 45.3 ″  E