Solna Church ( sv, Solna kyrka) is a so-called

round church A round church is a church construction with a completely circular plan. There are many Nordic round churches in Sweden and Denmark (notably the island of Bornholm); round churches were popular in Scandinavia in the 11th and early 12th centurie ...

in Solna Municipality near Stockholm, Sweden. It is part of Solna Parish in the Diocese of Stockholm. The church is located on the headland between

Brunnsviken Brunnsviken (literally ''The Bay of Wells'') is a by brackish lake in Sweden located on the boundary between Solna Municipality and Stockholm Municipality, connecting to Lilla Värtan through Ålkistan. It has a perimeter of . Around Brunnsvi ...

and Ulvsundasjön, at the southern end of the cemetery

Norra begravningsplatsen Norra begravningsplatsen, literally "The Northern Cemetery" in Swedish, is a major cemetery of the Stockholm urban area, located in Solna Municipality. Inaugurated on 9 June 1827, it is the burial site for a number of Swedish notables. Notabl ...

. The oldest parts of the church are from the later 12th century, a Romanesque fortress church built in stone. Today the church consists of a roundhouse, weaponhouse,

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 sp ...

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 ...

, sacristy, and two chancel tombs.

Church buildings

The oldest part of the church, the roundhouse, originates from the late 12th century, and was especially built for defense purposes. Attached to this round center is a weaponhouse (south), a

rectangular In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a parallelogram containin ...

choir to the east, and a rectangular nave to the west. North of the choir is the sacristy, and to the east an octagonal chancel tomb. There is a second chancel tomb on the south side of the nave. The roundhouse (central tower) is covered by a tall

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

, which dominates the appearance of the church. The choir was added in the 13th century. The oldest part of the nave is from the 14th century, and was extended during the 15th century, when the weaponhouse and sacristy were built.

Decorations

The church achieved large parts of its interior under the patronage of Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie. In 1674 the western portal was added, a sculptured portal originally constructed for

Karlberg Palace Karlberg Palace () is a palace by the Karlberg Canal in Solna Municipality in Sweden, adjacent to Stockholm's Vasastaden district. The palace, built in 1630,Solna: Huvudsta today houses the Military Academy Karlberg. In the palace park are fou ...

in 1637, and moved to Solna Church in 1674. In 1708 Queen

Ulrika Eleonora Ulrika Eleonora or Ulrica Eleanor (23 January 1688 – 24 November 1741), known as Ulrika Eleonora the Younger, was Queen of Sweden, reigning in her own right from 5 December 1718 until her abdication on 29 February 1720 in favour of her husband ...

commissioned a chancel tomb dedicated to count Tomas Polus. The roof was destroyed in a fire in 1723, and the current cupola was built after this incident. The ''Lange'' chancel tomb was constructed in the 1780s. In 1883 the church was given a roof of copper plates. A major restoration took place in 1928 under supervision of architect Erik Fant, when the church's medieval paintings were recovered. The medieval murals from ca. 1440 are attributed to Albertus Pictor. The choir is dominated by the altarpiece, sculpted in wood in 1666 by Hans Jerling. The altarpiece frames two oil paintings with biblical motifs, and is crowned by a wood-sculptured Madonna from the late 16th century, while the altar is made of brick and covered by a limestone plate.

Literary reference

Solna Church is mentioned in

Carl Michael Bellman Carl Michael Bellman (; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795) was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music, as well ...

's song "Haga" (Fredmans Sånger No. 64).

Other round churches

Other Swedish round churches are

Bromma Church Bromma kyrka is a round church in the borough Bromma in Stockholm, Sweden. The oldest parts of the church were built in the later 12th century as a fortress church, and the church is among Stockholm's oldest buildings. Today it has seven parts: ...

, Munsö Church, Voxtorp Church, Hagby Church, Valleberga Church, Skörstorp Church and Vårdsberg Church.

References

{{Churches in Uppland 12th-century churches in Sweden Church frescos in Sweden Buildings and structures in Stockholm County Fortified church buildings Churches in the Diocese of Stockholm (Church of Sweden) Churches converted from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church of Sweden

Church buildings

Decorations

Literary reference

Other round churches

See also

References