Church of När (Gotland)

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Church of När
Church of När

The Church of När ( Swedish När kyrka ) is a country church on the Swedish island of Gotland . It belongs to the parish (Swedish församling ) När-Lau.

location

The church is located inland on a peninsula on the south east coast of Gotland, 47 km southeast of Visby , 29 km south of Roma, 10 km south of Ljugarn and 16 km north-east of Hemse . The church is more on the edge of the parish (Swedish socken När), but it is close to the Närkån stream and some main roads.

Church building

The medieval church consists of a two-aisled nave with three bays . In the east there is a narrower, just closed choir , in the west a church tower and on the north side of the choir a sacristy . The building material is mainly limestone. The tower is the oldest. It was built in the middle of the 13th century as an older Romanesque apse church, the foundation walls of which can still be found under the floor of the current church, as excavations in 1933 have shown. Of interest are the clear defenses in the tower in the form of loopholes. Around 1300 the choir and nave were built in the Gothic style. The sacristy is from 1878. The facades are plastered, but the edges at the corners of the floor plan and the frames of the windows are made of finely hewn limestone. The ogival tracery windows of the church are all original. The north wall is completely blind. The choir is a steep gable roof covered and the vestry has its own gable roof. The higher nave has a basilica-like , two-part roof. Narrow monopitch roofs in the north and south form the transition between the wider lower part of the tower and the bell level with its round-arched, column-provided sound openings and the octagonal spire. The choir and nave each have perspective portals richly decorated with ornaments in the south. Most of the nave portal has been hewn from scratch. The tower portal is the oldest portal in the church. It is located in the west, is arched in two cracks and has an original door studded with wrought iron. The whitewashed church interior is characterized by the six high cross vaults supported by two capitals decorated with ornaments . Pointed-arch wall openings connect the nave with the choir and the tower room. The spacious choir, which is covered by a cross vault, is illuminated by a large, three-part east window and a smaller south window. The low cross vault of the tower chamber is the oldest vault in this church. 1982–1983 the church was restored according to plans by the architect Birger Andersson .

Furnishing

  • The church has interesting post-Reformation furnishings.
  • The font with reliefs is made of sandstone and was created by the master stonemason Hegvald around 1200.
  • The triumphal cross is from the late Middle Ages (approx. 1350–1500).
  • The altarpiece was made in Burgsvik towards the end of the 17th century and painted by Christian Lorens Numens in 1703 . He replaced an older altarpiece that is now in the church in Lau .
  • The pulpit is from 1687 and was probably made by the master joiner Jochim Sterling from Visby. It was painted by Johan Bartsch the Younger in 1689 . The corresponding canopy was made in 1754 by Matthis Glämstker from Garde.
  • Most of the pews date from the 17th century.
  • The organ was installed in 1931 by Åkerman & Lund Orgelbyggeri from Stockholm .

Surroundings

  • Two portals in the wall of the churchyard are still preserved. They are in the south and in the east.

Sources and information

literature

  • Våra kyrkor. Klarkullens förlag, Västervik 1990, ISBN 91-971561-0-8 , p. 691 (Swedish).

Web links

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

Coordinates: 57 ° 15 ′ 26.3 "  N , 18 ° 37 ′ 30.9"  E