Vamlingbo Church

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Aerial view of Vamlingbo Church

The Vamlingbo Church ( Swedish Vamlingbo kyrka ) is a medieval country church on the Swedish island of Gotland . It belongs to the parish (swed. Församling ) Hoburg in the diocese of Visby . Like the other churches in southern Gotland (Sudret), it is made of sandstone .

Vamlingbo Church, 1901

location

The church is located in the south of Gotland, 74 km south of Visby , 30 km south of Hemse and 7.5 km south of Burgsvik. Only Sundre Church is to the south.

Church building

Large parts of the church date from the 13th century and may have replaced an older stone church. The foundation walls of a smaller tower were found under the current one. Other relics from an earlier period are some walled reliefs, parts of coffins from the 12th century in the south facade and a font from the 12th century. Today's hall church consists of a three-aisled nave with a narrower, just closed choir in the east. In the north is the sacristy and in the west is the church tower . The building material is hewn sandstone with details of finely worked limestone. The nave and choir were built in the middle of the 13th century. The tower followed in the middle of the 14th century and was the tallest church tower on Gotland at around 75 meters. In the 1730s the tower was renovated, but it was blown down by a storm in 1736. The tower was renovated a second time, but collapsed in a lightning strike on February 9, 1817. The current church tower was built in 1820 when the lantern roof and retaining wall were added. The sacristy is from a later period. The facades are plastered white. The nave and the choir are covered by gable roofs. The three entrances to the church are on the north and south side of the nave and the south side of the choir. They have similar portals. The southern tower portal was closed in connection with the construction of the retaining wall. However, the portal enclosure was later exposed and can be studied from the inside. The nave has narrow window openings, two in the north and two in the south. The east wall of the choir is broken through by a group of three windows. In 1961 the church was restored according to plans by architect Åke Porne . 1987–1988 the church was restored from the outside.

The rune stones G 4 to G 7 are located in the church .

  • Vamlingbo Church, 2010

  • Vamlingbo Church, 2011

inner space

Weighing the soul of Emperor Heinrich

The interior of the nave is covered by nine cross vaults supported by four round columns. The alternation between red and gray limestone in the column shafts, in the triumphal arch and in the window frames is characteristic of the church interior, together with a square painting in yellow and gray. In the wall of the triumphal arch there are niches for side altars, of which the southeastern one has been preserved, and a three-part opening from which Gotland's only preserved medieval ambo extends. The frescoes date from the 13th and 14th centuries. The painted figures on the nave walls are of interest. They are from the middle of the 13th century by the Michaelsmeister and represent the cradle of the soul of Emperor Heinrich. The vault paintings of the nave, which are from around 1700, were restored around 1900 when the stained glass of the choir was replaced by imitations of medieval stained glass replaced.

Furnishing

  • The font belongs to the Byzantios group and was made in the second half of the 12th century.
  • The altar is made of sandstone and has a plate carved from a large limestone .
  • The altarpiece , cut in the 14th century, has sculptural images of Jesus on the cross, Mary , John and the apostles .
  • The pulpit is from the 17th century and replaces a medieval pulpit that was an ambo .
  • A modern limestone sculpture has Mary with the baby Jesus as a motif. It was created by Sven Lundqvist in 1971.
  • Today's organ was built in 1985 by Johannes Künkels Orgelverkstad from Lund.

literature

Web links

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

Coordinates: 56 ° 58 ′ 10.9 ″  N , 18 ° 13 ′ 49.2 ″  E