Orsa Church (

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

: ''Orsa kyrka'') is a church of the

Diocese of Västerås The Diocese of Västerås ( sv, Västerås stift) is a division of the Church of Sweden. Its home is in the Västerås Cathedral. History The diocese existed as a Catholic diocese from the 11th to the 16th century. The see was founded at Munktor ...

. It is located in the center of

Orsa, Sweden Orsa () is a locality and the seat of Orsa Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 5,308 inhabitants (2010). It is located in the northern part of lake Siljan, about north of the town Mora. Inlandsbanan and European route E45 run through th ...

History

The 1st stone church was built during the 13th century and maybe it replaced an old

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 ...

. Around 1300 the church was built out in east direction and then maybe 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 ...

came. In the middle of the 14th century the church was beamed out to the present beam. In the end of the 15th century it was built out to the present size, except 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 ...

. In 1607 they planned to build the

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

at the western part of the church, and it was finished in 1639, but demolished and replaced by a new tower which was built in 1853, according to drawings by architect Ludvig Hawerman. The present choirs came when the church was rebuilt 1752–55. In 1979 the church was restored; the roof was rebuilt and a little museum was built in one of the tower rooms. The fore part of the floor was replaced by new

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 ...

floor and the rest of the floor is made of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

from Orsa. At the restoration they found remains of two old floors made of stone and brick.

Sources

Orsa Church on Svenska kyrkan's website
{{coord, 61, 07, 12, N, 14, 36, 52.3, E, region:SE_type:landmark, display=title Churches in Dalarna County Churches in the Diocese of Västerås