Church of the Fathers

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Aerial view of the Church of Väte on Gotland
Church of the Fathers

The Church of Väte ( Swedish Väte kyrka ) is a Gothic country church on the Swedish island of Gotland . She belongs to the parish (Swedish församling ) Väte in the Diocese of Visby .

location

The church is located in the western interior of Gotland on road 142 from Visby to Hemse , about 22 km south of Visby, 8 km south of Roma and 24 km north of Hemse.

Church building

Väte's church was built of stone in the 14th century and is one of the larger on Gotland. It consists of a three-aisled nave with a narrower, just closed choir and a sacristy on the north side of the choir. The choir and sacristy were built around 1300. The nave dates from the middle of the 14th century and you can tell that it came from the anonymous master stonemason Egypticus or his workshop. A walled-up tower arch in the west wall testifies to a planned but never built tower. Today's roof turret in the west, an octagonal spire with a bell-shaped floor under a canopy, is from 1914. The façades also contain large parts of the material of an earlier Romanesque church that was called iconic: the north portal, the enclosure of the vestry entrance, the window frames and the large relief stones, which in particular contain depictions of animals. The foundation walls of the older church were found during a restoration from 1927 to 1928. The south walls of the nave and choir both had richly shaped pointed arched perspective portals with capitals richly decorated with ornaments and eyelashes . The church has two ogival window openings in the south and a three group of windows in the east gable. The nine tent vaults of the nave are supported by four strong pillars, the capitals of which have leaf ornaments. An ogival wall opening connects the nave with the choir, which has a cross vault . The oldest frescoes in the choir are from the 14th century, but in the 15th century the Passion Master painted paintings in the nave. The passion frieze in the north nave wall is painted by a master from 1520 . There are similar friezes in the churches of Alva and Lau . The church was restored in 1956 by architect Nils Arne Rosén and in 1965 by architect Olle Karth .

Furnishing

  • The octagonal font is made of sandstone and was made by Byzantios in the 12th century.
  • The altar is medieval and is covered by a plate with five inauguration crosses carved into it. The altarpiece is a Gotland work from the 17th century and was painted by Johan Niklas Weller in 1780 .
  • The triumphal cross is from the 13th century.
  • The pulpit was designed by Johan Niklas Weller in 1782 , but it is probably much older than its current painting.
  • The organ was built in 1955 by Werner Bosch from Kassel .

literature

  • Erland Lagerlöf, Gunnar Svahnström: The churches of Gotland. Stein, Kiel 1991, ISBN 3-89392-049-8 , pp. 268-271.
  • Våra kyrkor. Klarkullens förlag, Västervik 1990, ISBN 91-971561-0-8 , p. 681 (Swedish).

Web links

Commons : Church of Fathers  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 57 ° 26 '56.7 "  N , 18 ° 21' 50.5"  E