Öja is a populated area, a

socken Socken ( or ) is the name used for a part of a counties of Sweden, county in Sweden. In Denmark, similar areas are known as , in Norway or and in Finland or . A is a rural area formed around a church, typically in the Middle Ages. A socken ...

(not to be confused with

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

), on the Swedish island of

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

. It comprises the same area as the administrative Öja District, established on 1January 2016.

Geography

Öja is situated partly on the narrow southern isthmus that connects the Storsudret peninsula to Gotland and partly on the peninsula itself. The

medieval 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 World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Öja Church Öja Church () is a medieval church in Öja on the Swedish island of Gotland. The church dates from the 13th century and contains an unusual large and elaborately decorated triumphal cross or rood. It belongs to the Church of Sweden and lies within ...

is located in the socken. The

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

Burgsvik Burgsvik is a locality situated in Öja in the Swedish island of Gotland with 350 inhabitants in 2014. Burgsvik lies in the southern part of the island of Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Go ...

is in the west part of Öja. , Öja Church belongs to Hoburg

in Sudrets

pastorat The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest Lu ...

, along with the churches in Hamra,

Vamlingbo Vamlingbo is a populated area, a socken (not to be confused with parish), on the Swedish island of Gotland. It comprises the same area as the administrative Vamlingbo District, established on 1January 2016. Geography Vamlingbo is the name of th ...

, Sundre and

Fide The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

. One of the

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s in the

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...

, 10123 Fideöja, is named after this place and the neighboring

socken.

''Öjamadonnan''

Öja is mostly known for the , 13th century, wooden sculpture ''Öjamadonnan'' ("The Öja Madonna"), a

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary that portrays her suffering as mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Saba ...

representation of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. The

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

statue was removed from the Öja Church during the

Swedish Reformation The Reformation in Sweden is generally regarded as having begun in 1527 during the reign of King Gustav I of Sweden, but the process was slow and was not definitively decided until the Uppsala Synod of 1593, in the wake of an attempted Counter-Re ...

and stowed away in a woodshed. It was later retrieved by

Gotland Museum The Gotland Museum () (previously known as ''Länsmuseet på Gotland'' or ''Gotlands Fornsal'') in Visby, Sweden, is the county museum of Gotland. It was founded by the Friends of Gotland's Antiquity society in 1875, at the initiative of Pehr Arvi ...

, renovated in 1948 and it is now displayed in the museum. A replica of the statue for Öja Church, was later made by sculptor Bertil Nyström. The sculpture has been chosen as one of the Treasured Objects in Sweden.

References

External links

*
Objects from Öja at the Digital Museum
by

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

Populated places in Gotland County {{Gotland-geo-stub