Church of Othem

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View of the Church of Othem from the southeast
Church of Othem aerial view
Church of Othem Choir Portal
Church of Othem, choir

The Church of Othem ( Swedish Othem kyrka ) is a Romanesque country church on the Swedish island of Gotland . It belongs to the parish (swed. Församling ) Othem-Boge in the diocese of Visby .

location

The church is located 29 km northeast of Visby and 5.5 km northwest of Slite in the northern interior of Gotland.

Church building

The church of Othem is a white-plastered Romanesque church made of limestone. It has narrow windows with round arches, a narrower choir in the east and a pointed tower in the west. The tower is provided with pairs of arched openings on three floors. There are two entrance portals on the south side of the church. These are both ogival arches with a well-shaped tympanum contour, and they both have vegetal ornaments on the capitals . The larger portal to the nave is equipped with an eyelash . The choir portal is more finely worked out in its details. On the north side of the nave there is a restored Romanesque portal that comes from an earlier stone church. The sacristy is north of the choir. In the middle of the south side of the nave there is an unusually strong retaining wall.

The choir is dominated by the altar from 1693; but there are also medieval frescoes from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. There used to be such a thing in the nave. On the epistle side there is an 18th century pulpit with a sound cover .

Building history

Investigations of the ground revealed the remains of a church from the 12th century. Before today's church was built, there was at least one stone church building on the same site, which was built shortly before 1200. A rebuilt Romanesque portal in the north wall of the nave is reminiscent of its predecessor, as is a heavily weathered baptismal font, which dates from around 1200 and was possibly made by the master stonemason Sighraf . This older church was given a tower at the beginning of the 13th century.

Construction of today's church began in the 13th century. It attached itself to the tower of the former stone church. In the middle of the 13th century the square-shaped nave was built, which consists of four square bays . These are supported by a round central column, the capital of which is decorated with reliefs . It is very reminiscent of the corresponding capital in Hellvi Church , which was built by the Gotland builder and sculptor Lafrans Botvidarsson. This could indicate that the same builder also worked here. Practically immediately after the completion of the nave, the construction of the recently completed choir, which consists of a single yoke with round diagonal ribs, continued. The tower was also built higher.

Murals

Church of Othem, wall paintings

The four vaulted caps of the nave were decorated as early as the 1240s. In the east, the tree of life was painted with roots in one of the streams of the Garden of Eden . There are several trees in the northern and southern capes, and the vault ribs are also decorated. A few birds have made their home in the tree of life. They, that is, the souls of men, are shot at by the forces of evil who are disguised as hunters; but the arrows bounce back against the shooters. In the western vaulted cap, the evil power appears in the form of a flying dragon , which opens its jaws towards the tree of life. In a medallion under the tree of life, Christ oversees the whole. Around 1265 the church building and decorations were finished.

Around 1330, an important artist visited the church. On the northern side of the triumphal arch he painted Mary with the baby Jesus , an unusually high-quality work of art.

At the next turn of the century the so-called Othemsmeister (Othemsmästare) appeared, who also made lime paintings in the church of Fide . In Othem he painted Christ as King, surrounded by apprentices, and on each side of the altar the Apostles Paul and Saint Dionysius , who was the bishop and perhaps the patron saint of the church.

In 1693, all medieval paintings were whitewashed and a sandstone altar was installed in the choir.

Interior decoration

  • A weathered font from around 1200 may have been made by the Gotland stonemason Sighraf .
  • In the triumphal arch hangs a triumphal cross depicting the victorious Christ on the crucifix .
  • The sandstone altar , donated by Mårten Fries and Margareta Schröder in 1693, depicts the crucifixion of Jesus .
  • The pulpit with a sound cover was installed in the 1730s.
  • Around 1740 the church received new pews.
  • In 1774 a new gallery was built. Its parapet was decorated in 1776 by sergeant and church painter Johan Nicolaus Weller (1723–1785), who painted the four evangelists and Jesus at the age of twelve in the temple in Jerusalem.
  • In 1854 a church organ by the organ builder Anders Vilhelm Lindgren (1807–1860) from Stockholm was installed. Its organ front is still there, although the interior has since been replaced.
  • The modern wooden sculpture of a Mary with the baby Jesus above the baptismal font was made from Slite by the Swedish artist Bertil Nyström (* 1900).
  • Church of Othem

  • Baptismal font, late 12th century

  • Triumphal cross

  • Altar from 1693

  • 18th century pulpit

  • Paintings on the gallery parapet

The Church in Modern Times

One night in March 1908 a fire broke out in the church, and in the morning the wood in the tower as well as in the nave and choir was consumed by the fire. The church bell could sound the alarm before it fell and broke. Fortunately, loose inventory, including church silver and all old documents, was saved. The fire was probably caused by a break in the heating system. In the following year the church got a new roof over the nave and the choir. On this occasion, care was taken to expose the medieval paintings that had been whitewashed in 1693.

In 1952 the church was restored on a proposal by the architect Erik Fant (1889–1954).

In 2000 the church was renovated and in August 2004 a roof painter was working at the top of the tower.

Grave monuments

On either side of the altar are two tombstones with runic inscriptions , which remind of Halvard in Angabo and Niklas in Kikin . In the choir there is also a tombstone with majusc inscription. Pastor Nicolaus († 1338) was originally buried under it.

organ

Organ with prospectus by A. V. Lindgren (1854)
  • 1854: Organ builder Anders Vilhelm Lindgren (1807–1860) from Stockholm builds an organ with ten registers .
  • 1924: The company Mattias Johan (1851–1929) & Harald Lindegren from Gothenburg builds a pneumatic organ with eleven stops behind Vilhelm Lindgren's prospect .

Disposition:

Manual I Manual II pedal Paddock
Borduna 16 ′ Reed flute 8 ′ Subbass 16 ′ I / P
Principal 8 ′ Salicional 8 ′ II / P
Gamba 8 ′ Voix celeste 8 ′ II / I
Flûte harmonique 8 ′ Violin 4 ′ 4′I / I
Octava 4 ′ 16′II / II
Echo flute 4 ′
  • 1983 to 1984: The A. Mårtenssons organ factory from Lund installs a mechanical organ with 14 registers behind Anders Vilhelm Lindgren's prospect .

Disposition:

Main work Swell pedal Paddock
Flûte harmonique 8 ′ Reed flute 8 ′ Subbass 16 ′ Hauptwerk / pedal
Gedackt 8 ′ Salizional 8 ′ Quintadena 4 ′ Swell / pedal mechanism
Gamba 8 ′ Voix celeste 8 ′ Swell / main plant
Principal 4 ′ Coupling flute 4 ′
Echo flute 4 ′ Recorder 2 ′
Gemshorn 2 ′
Cornet III chor. Kreszendo rocker

literature

Web links

Commons : Church of Othem  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Church of Othem (side)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ New roof over nave and choir (picture) ( Memento from December 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 57 ° 44 ′ 50.5 ″  N , 18 ° 44 ′ 19 ″  E