Överselö Church ( sv, Överselö kyrka) is a medieval

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

located on

Selaön Selaön is the largest island in Mälaren, Sweden, and covers 94.72 km². It is located at Stallarholmen, east of Strängnäs, and it has about 1,800 permanent residents. It is connected by a bridge to the mainland. It is the largest island ...

near

Strängnäs Strängnäs is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Strängnäs Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 15,363 inhabitants in 2020. It is located by Lake Mälaren and is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Strängnäs, one of t ...

Södermanland County Södermanland County ( sv, Södermanlands län) is a county or '' län'' on the southeast coast of Sweden. In the local Sörmlandic dialects it is virtually universally shortened and pronounced as Sörmlands län, or simply Sörmland, which is t ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The church is noted for its Medieval artefacts and frescos. Its restoration over a two-year period was completed in 2013. It belongs to the

Diocese of Strängnäs The Diocese of Strängnäs ( sv, Strängnäs stift) is a part of the Lutheran Church of Sweden and has its seat in Strängnäs Cathedral in Strängnäs, south of Lake Mälaren. The diocese is made up of the two provinces Närke and Södermanland ...

History and architecture

Built in the Romanesque style in the 13th century, the church stands on the site of an older

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts a ...

. The many

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

s on the island testify to the presence of an early community there. The church has a solid tower with limestone decorations from c. 1250."Överselö kyrka"
Svenska kyrkan. Retrieved 20 September 2013.

Interior

Among the church's treasures are a sculpted stone

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

, a wrought-iron chandelier, and the cherished Överselö Madonna carved in oak by a craftsman from

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. The

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 the 1670s. The Gren & Stråhle organ (1754) is one of the oldest still in use.

Frescos

The church is decorated by a considerable number of 15th-century frescos depicting Biblical figures and stories. The unusually well crafted paintings by artists from Mälardalen include a picture in the nave vaulting of the Trinity in which God the Father holds his Son. Other paintings depict the Apostles, Nordic saints and the symbols of the four Evangelists. The frescos in the tower room and in the south chapel are from the 17th century.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Overselo Church Romanesque architecture in Sweden Churches in Södermanland County Church frescos in Sweden Churches in the Diocese of Strängnäs

History and architecture

Interior

Frescos

See also

References