Överselö Church () is a medieval

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

located on

Selaön Selaön is the largest island in Mälaren, Sweden, and covers 94.72 km². It is located at Stallarholmen, east of Strängnäs, and it has about 1,800 permanent residents. It is connected by a bridge to the mainland. It is the largest island i ...

near

Strängnäs Strängnäs is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Strängnäs Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 15,363 inhabitants in 2020. It is located by Lake Mälaren and is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Strängnäs, one of t ...

Södermanland County Södermanland County (, ) is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' on the southeast coast of Sweden. In the local Sörmlandic dialects it is virtually universally shortened and pronounced as Sörmlands län, or simply Sörmland, which is the ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The church is noted for its Medieval artefacts and frescos. Its restoration over a two-year period was completed in 2013. It belongs to the

Diocese of Strängnäs The Diocese of Strängnäs () is a part of the Lutheran Church of Sweden and has its seat in Strängnäs Cathedral in Strängnäs, south of Lake Mälaren. The diocese is made up of the two provinces Närke and Södermanland (except for eastern S ...

History and architecture

Built in the Romanesque style in the 13th century, the church stands on the site of an older

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 ...

. The many

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

s on the island testify to the presence of an early community there. The church has a solid tower with limestone decorations from c. 1250."Överselö kyrka"
Svenska kyrkan. Retrieved 20 September 2013.

Interior

Among the church's treasures are a sculpted stone

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, a wrought-iron chandelier, and the cherished Överselö Madonna carved in oak by a craftsman from

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 ...

. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

is from the 1670s. The

Gren & Stråhle Grenfell "Gren" Jones Order of the British Empire, MBE (13 June 1934 – 4 January 2007) was one of Wales's best-known and longest-serving newspaper cartoonists. Biography The son of coal mining, coal miner Harry Jones, Gren was born in Hen ...

organ (1754) is one of the oldest still in use.

Frescos

The church is decorated by a considerable number of 15th-century frescos depicting Biblical figures and stories. The unusually well crafted paintings by artists from Mälardalen include a picture in the nave vaulting of the Trinity in which God the Father holds his Son. Other paintings depict the Apostles, Nordic saints and the symbols of the

four Evangelists In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...

. The frescos in the tower room and in the south chapel are from the 17th century.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Overselo Church Romanesque architecture in Sweden Churches in Södermanland County Church frescos in Sweden Churches in the Diocese of Strängnäs Strängnäs Municipality

History and architecture

Interior

Frescos

See also

References