Vamlingbo Church ( sv, Vamlingbo kyrka) is a medieval church on the

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 ...

island of

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

, and one of the largest on the island. It lies in the

Diocese of Visby The Diocese of Visby ( sv, Visby stift) is a division of the Church of Sweden consisting of the island of Gotland. Its seat is Visby Cathedral located in the largest town on Gotland, Visby. The Bishop of Visby is also responsible for the episcop ...

History

The earliest church on the site was a

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 ...

, later replaced by a Romanesque stone church. Of these first churches nothing remains, except for some Romanesque

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s incorporated in the southern wall of the present church, and 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). ...

, made by the master sculptor known through the

notname In art history, a ''Notname'' (, "necessity-name" or "contingency-name") is an invented name given to an artist whose identity has been lost. The practice arose from the need to give such artists and their typically untitled, or generically title ...

Byzantios Byzantios is the notname of a Romanesque stone sculptor or workshop, working on Gotland in present-day Sweden during the last quarter of the 12th century. Byzantios was the first of a series of Romanesque stone sculpture workshops active on Gotl ...

. The presently visible church is a comparatively large

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 ...

building, dating from the middle of the 14th century. Only the tower is later, built during the 14th century. It was around 75 meters tall and the tallest tower in Gotland. But it was heavily damaged by a

lightning strike A lightning strike or lightning bolt is an electric discharge between the atmosphere and the ground. Most originate in a cumulonimbus cloud and terminate on the ground, called cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning. A less common type of strike, ground- ...

in 1817. The upper part of the tower, including the

roof lantern A roof lantern is a daylighting architectural element. Architectural lanterns are part of a larger roof and provide natural light into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an architectural skylight structure. A lantern roof wil ...

, therefore dates from 1820. The church is one of the largest churches on Gotland, which is probably because the large parish was at the time one of the richest on Gotland. It is however also possible that the unusual size of the church can be explained by that the church, like

Lau Church Lau Church ( sv, Lau kyrka) is a medieval church on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. It is an unusually large church, and may have been used by Dominicans preaching for the Crusades. History The church of Lau dates from th ...

, may have been used by

Dominican friars The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

to preach

crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

against pagans in present-day

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

and

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. No major alterations have been made to the church since. Archaeological investigations and a renovation was carried out in 1960 to 1961.

Architecture

The church is a

hall church A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...

of a type quite common on Gotland. 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 ...

of the church is spacious and broad, divided into three parts by four sturdy pillars. The

stone mason In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's o ...

s that built the church have alternated red and grey

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 ...

in the pillars and other details, creating an unusually colourful interior. On its northern wall are a set of medieval muralss, depicting a scene in which the

archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

is weighing the soul of Emperor Henry. The picture dates from the middle of the 13th century and is considered to be one of the largest and most unusual murals on Gotland. It has been suggested that St. Michael was the patron saint of the church. Other, less dominating murals in the church depict pictures of saints and apostles, and purely decorative painting. Of furnishings, the aforementioned baptismal font is perhaps the most noteworthy. 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 from the 14th century and shows influences from western German art.

Rectory

Adjacent to the church is the former

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

. It is an unusually grand building, consisting in a small manor-like complex with four annexes and a large main house. The house, which is located on the site of an earlier, medieval rectory, dates from 1779 and show traces of a simple, vernacular form of

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

References

External links

* {{Churches on Gotland Romanesque architecture in Sweden Gothic architecture in Sweden Churches in Gotland County Churches in the Diocese of Visby Church frescos in Sweden Churches converted from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church of Sweden