Färlöv Church () is a medieval

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church in

Färlöv Färlöv is a locality situated in Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 1,026 inhabitants in 2010. Färlöv is best known for Färlöv Church, a Romanesque 12th century church with twin towers. Being a small town, Färlöv doe ...

in the province of

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

, Sweden. It belongs to the

Diocese of Lund The Diocese of Lund () is a diocese within the Church of Sweden which corresponds to the provinces of Blekinge and Skåne. There are 217 parishes within the diocese, the most significant number in any of the dioceses of the Church of Sweden. Th ...

History

The presently visible church was preceded by a wooden

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 ...

, built during the 11th century. The oldest parts of the presently visible Romanesque church date from about 1180. The twin tower, 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 ...

and the

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

form the oldest parts of the church. According to legend, the two towers were constructed by the wife of a local

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

. The story goes that the knight went away to fight in a war while his wife was pregnant, and asked his servants to build a tower to the church in case she gave birth to a son. When he returned from the war and saw the two towers, he realised that she had given birth to twins. In reality, twin western towers are not an unknown element in Romanesque architecture, although not known from any other parish church in Scania. While it is unknown who built the church and why, the presence of the twin towers thus do denote high ambitions. From the extensive use of finely cut and worked

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

, scholars have deduced that the workers building the church probably came from

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

, where similar granite churches exist. During the 15th century, the vaults in the choir were decorated with

murals 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 Spanish ...

. During the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

the nave was also vaulted; but when the church was enlarged towards the north in 1770, these vaults were destroyed. The southern transept was added roughly a hundred years later.

Architecture

As mentioned above, the church consists of a broad western tower with two spires, which is broader than the original nave. In front of the south-western portal is a Romanesque porch with two pillars supporting a roof; this canopy is unparalleled in Swedish church architecture. Traces of masonry found next to the

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

indicate that there may have been smaller towers on either side of the apse as well, an arrangement known from Danish Romanesque churches. The church has two transepts, a central nave and a choir with an apse. The exterior of the church is today whitewashed. Internally, the church is characterised by a radical renovation carried out in 1882 by architect Helgo Zettervall in a

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

fashion. This was reinforced by another, similarly medievalist renovation two decades later. In the choir, the aforementioned paintings are however truly medieval, dating from the 15th century. They depict a motif which is unusual for such church murals in present-day Sweden: scenes from the

Last Judgment The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

as interpreted in the ''

Golden Legend The ''Golden Legend'' ( or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of 153 hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in Europe during the Late Middle Ages. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary Maddo ...

''. Among the church fittings, the

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

is the oldest. Made of granite, it is contemporary with the church and similar to fonts in Jutland. The font is decorated with sculpted stone lions, in

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

. Of later date but also medieval is a painted wooden statue depicting

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

. It dates from the end of the 15th century and made in northern Germany. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter 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 or sculpture, ...

, made of oak wood, dates from the 17th century. The church also contains two carved wooden memorial shields, so-called epitaphs, from the 17th and 18th centuries respectively.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farlov Church Churches in Skåne County Churches in the Diocese of Lund Churches converted from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church of Sweden Romanesque architecture in Sweden Church frescos in Sweden Kristianstad Municipality