Malexander Church ( sv, Malexanders kyrka) is a stone church, opened in 1881, located in the minor village

Malexander Malexander is a small village in Boxholm Municipality, Sweden, about southwest of Linköping and southeast of Boxholm. It is located close to the lake Sommen Sommen () is a lake in the South Swedish highlands lying across the border of the pro ...

Boxholm Municipality Boxholm Municipality () is a Municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Östergötland County in southeast Sweden. Its seat is located in the industrial town of Boxholm. The present municipality was formed in 1971, when the market town (''köping' ...

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 ...

History

There seems to be a church in Malexander already in the 13th Century. The 1st known information about a church is from 1345 when

Bridget of Sweden Bridget of Sweden (c. 1303 – 23 July 1373) born as Birgitta Birgersdotter, also Birgitta of Vadstena, or Saint Birgitta ( sv, heliga Birgitta), was a mystic and a saint, and she was also the founder of the Bridgettines nuns and monks after t ...

's uncle

Knut Jonsson Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...

, who owned the

seat farm In Scandinavia, a seat farm (Danish: ''sædegård''; Norwegian: ''setegård''/''setegard''; Swedish: ''sätesgård'' or ''säteri''; Finnish: ''säteriratsutila'') was a farm where a nobleman had his permanent residence. They were found in the Kin ...

'' Aspenäs'', willed money to the church and the priest Lambertus. This church, which was built of

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

, burnt in 1587 and a new wood church was built. Perhaps the

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

wasn't damaged in the fire. In the 19th century there were so many people that the church was not enough. In 1877 they started building a new stone church exactly south of the wood church. In 1881 the stone church was finished and the next year the old wood church was

demolished Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...

, but they photographed it before the demolition. In 1929 the stone church burnt, but was rebuilt and opened in 1931.

References

External links

Malexander Church on www.malexander.se
{{coord, 58, 01, 56, N, 15, 16, 40, E, region:SE_type:landmark_source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title Churches completed in 1881 Churches in Östergötland County Churches in the Diocese of Linköping 1881 establishments in Sweden 19th-century Church of Sweden church buildings 1929 fires in Europe Fires in Sweden