Östra Sönnarslöv Church ( sv, Östra Sönnarslövs kyrka) is a church in Östra Sönnarslöv, a village in

Kristianstad Municipality Kristianstad Municipality (''Kristianstads kommun'') is a municipality in Scania County in southernmost Sweden. Its seat is located in the city Kristianstad. The present municipality was created in three steps during the last nationwide local gov ...

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conte ...

, Sweden.

History

The church originally consisted of a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and an

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

, and was built during the 12th century. The broad tower was added in the 13th century. The church contains the graves of the Ramel family, lords of nearby Maltesholm Castle. During the 18th century a north

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

arm was added, and during substantial reconstruction works in the 1860s another transept arm was added to the south. The apse was demolished at the same time, and the nave heavily rebuilt; today only the tower and the chancel are preserved from the medieval church. A renovation was carried out in the 1960s, and at this time the medieval murals in the chancel were restored.

Murals and furnishings

The murals in the chancel are from the middle of the 15th century and unusually well-preserved with vivid colours and sharp contours. They depict the four saints Barbara, Gertrude,

Olaf Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" a ...

and

Canute Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...

. The

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

of the church is from the late 12th century and originally perhaps belonged to another medieval church, , which was demolished in the 19th century and replaced with a new building. The font has carved floral ornamentation, and has on stylistic grounds been attributed to the Romanesque artist

Tove Tove is a Scandinavian given name that derives from the Old Norse name Tófa. The name is usually given to girls but occasionally to boys. It is also an alternative English spelling of the Hebrew name more commonly spelled Tovah or Tova. Origins ...

. The other furnishings are considerably younger; the

pew A pew () is a long bench (furniture), bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating Member (local church), members of a Church (congregation), congregation or choir in a Church (building), church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom. Overview ...

s are partially from 1611 but mostly from the 19th century, and the richly decorated wooden

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

is from 1636.

References

External links

* {{Churches in Scania Churches in Skåne County Churches in the Diocese of Lund Church frescos in Sweden 12th-century churches in Sweden