Drothem Church ( sv, Drothems 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 in

Söderköping Söderköping is a locality and the seat of Söderköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 6,992 inhabitants in 2010. Söderköping is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a ''town''. ...

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 dates back to the end of the 13th or the 14th century and is one of two surviving medieval churches in Söderköping, the other being St. Lawrence's Church (''Sankt Laurentii kyrka''). Both churches are associated with the

Diocese of Linköping The Diocese of Linköping ( sv, Linköpings stift) is a diocese within the Church of Sweden administering the Östergötland County, the north eastern part of Jönköping County and the northern part of Kalmar County. It comprises nine deanerie ...

of 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 ...

History

Drothem church is located on the outskirts of the medieval city centre of Söderköping, on land that once belonged to a nearby royal manor. In contrast to St. Lawrence's Church, Drothem church was referred to as the "peasant's church" and used as a parish church by the rural population rather than the strictly urban. The present church was probably preceded by a wooden church on approximately the same site. Remains of a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

monastery have been excavated in the close vicinity of Drothem church, leading scholars to believe that the church started its history as part of the monastery, which in turn was founded on land donated from the royal manor nearby. The first written records mentioning the church date from 1307, but construction of the church started sometime during the second half of the 13th century. The present-day

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

is the oldest part of the church. Later alterations have been plentiful, as the church has been damaged both by fire on several occasions, and also in war, during the

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck, and Polan ...

when Danish troops under the command of

Daniel Rantzau Daniel Rantzau (1529 – 11 November 1569) was a Danish-German general. He was known for his leadership during the Northern Seven Years' War. For some years, he fought in Germany and Italy, and also took part in the Danish conquest of Dithmarschen ...

caused damage to the church. In 1586, the church was still in disrepair and the congregation pleaded to the king (

John III of Sweden John III ( sv , Johan III, fi, Juhana III; 20 December 1537 – 17 November 1592) was King of Sweden from 1569 until his death. He was the son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud. He was also, quite autonomous ...

) to help funding the repairs.

Architecture

The church is built of stone with some details made of

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

, and whitewashed. Both the west and the east façades are decorated with

blind arch A blind arch is an arch found in the wall of a building that has been infilled with solid construction and so cannot serve as a passageway, door or window.''A Dictionary of Architecture''; Fleming, John; Honour, Hugh & Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966) T ...

es and

crow-stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in a ...

s. Heavy

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es support the building. The roof is made of shingle. The church has an external belfry. Inside, the church is divided into 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 ...

and two

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s by two rows of pillars, carrying

Gothic 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 ...

vaults. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

is in the form of a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...

from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. According to a note written in medieval German and found in the altar, it was made in 1512 by a craftsman called Vlögel. 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). ...

is from the 13th century. Other noteworthy interior details include 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 ...

and canopy from 1704 and an altar painting from the 17th century, originally forming part of an

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

Gallery

DrothemOrgel.jpg, Organ DrothemPredStolTak.jpg, Pulpit canopy Drothem triptych02.jpg, Detail of triptych DrothemVault.jpg, Ceiling vault

References

External links

* {{coord, 58, 28, 51, N, 16, 18, 57, E, region:SE, display=title Churches in the Diocese of Linköping 13th-century churches in Sweden Gothic architecture in Sweden