Barlingbo Church ( sv, Barlingbo kyrka) is a medieval church in Barlingbo on the Swedish island of

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 ...

. It dates from the 13th century and has been altered little since. It contains furnishings from several centuries, including an unusual medieval baptismal font, decorated with figures and runes. The church belongs to the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

and lies in the Diocese of Visby.

History and architecture

The presently visible church was finished c. 1280. It was however preceded by another church, whose foundations have been discovered under the floor of the present one. The oldest parts of Barlingbo Church are the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

and

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 ...

. These have been dated to 1225. Following this, the

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 ...

was built, and lastly the tower. The church in its entirety dates from the 13th century. The church has three portals, two of which are in

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and one, the oldest, which is still in the Romanesque tradition. The largest of the Gothic portals seems to have been inserted after the walls were built, as it is obviously too large for the façade and the walls have been made thicker around it in order to accommodate it. This portal dates from c. 1300. In the western, tower façade there is a

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...

. There are also Gothic windows with still extant

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

from c. 1280 in the apse and the south façade, one of only a few instances of preserved

medieval stained glass in Sweden The surviving amount of medieval stained glass in Sweden is relatively small, compared to some other European countries. There are in total 165 medieval stained glass panes with figurative depictions surviving in 37 churches, constituting a tota ...

''in situ''. Inside, Barlingbo Church is divided by vaults in three sections, length-wise. It is a single-nave church. Its consciously conceived plan has been interpreted as being influenced by Cistercian architecture. The walls are decorated by

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s from different times. Oldest of these are a number of purely decorative, grey triangles and crosses, dating perhaps from the earliest construction period. A set of more monumental but likewise purely decorative paintings in the nave and around the east window of the apse date from c. 1280. Later, from the 14th century, are murals in the apse depicting six apostles, unique in their appearance on Gotland. Among the furnishings, the medieval altar (which has probably once housed a

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

) has a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

top, dated 1683 and with the

monogram A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series o ...

of King Charles XI of Sweden. The

triumphal cross A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixion ...

featuring the crucified Jesus is from c. 1240 and is attributed to the anonymous ''Tingstädemästaren''. In the choir, some tombstones from the 13th and 14th centuries are visible, and 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 ...

, itself dating from 1673, has been placed on a medieval side altar. 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 and the

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

cover are from the 19th century. One of the church bells is from c. 1440 and carries inscriptions evoking

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

, Mary and

Saint Dionysius Pope Dionysius was the bishop of Rome from 22 July 259 to his death on 26 December 268. His task was to reorganize the Roman church, after the persecutions of Emperor Valerian I and the edict of toleration by his successor Gallienus. He also he ...

; the latter is believed to have been the patron saint of the church in

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

times. An unusual item in the church is 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). ...

, dating from the second part of the 12th century and richly decorated with carved figures. It displays figures from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and the symbols of the evangelists. Some of the figures are also marked with

runes Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, a ...

. The font, carved from a single block of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, is not comparable to any other baptismal font on Gotland. Swedish art historian

Johnny Roosval John (Johnny) August Emanuel Roosval (29 August 1879 – 18 October 1965) was a Swedish art historian, Medieval ecclesiastical art specialist, and university professor. Biography Johnny Roosval was born in a bourgeois family in Kalmar, but grew u ...

(1879–1965) considered it to be one of the finest pieces of art from medieval Sweden. Influences from medieval English art from the time have also have been traced in the font. The church belongs to the Church of Sweden and lies within the Diocese of Visby.

Parsonage

Close to the church lies the old

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically own ...

. It was built in 1902 in a style mixing

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

with

Renaissance Revival architecture Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

. This turn-of-the-century interpretation of

Medieval architecture Medieval architecture is architecture common in the Middle Ages, and includes religious, civil, and military buildings. Styles include pre-Romanesque, Romanesque, and Gothic. While most of the surviving medieval architecture is to be seen in c ...

is unique on Gotland.

References

External links

*
Official site (in Swedish)
{{Authority control Romanesque architecture in Sweden Churches in Gotland County Churches in the Diocese of Visby Church frescos in Sweden Churches converted from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church of Sweden

History and architecture

Parsonage

References

Further reading

External links