Gökhem 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 built in the Romanesque style. Located some west of

Falköping Falköping () is a locality and the seat of Falköping Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 16,350 inhabitants in 2010. History The town of Falköping was first spoken of in the Icelandic ''Rimbegla'' (around 1100 A.D.), ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County () is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1,616,000 amounts to 17% of S ...

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 ...

, it belongs to the

Diocese of Skara The Diocese of Skara () is the oldest existing diocese in Sweden. It was originally a Latin bishopric of the Roman Catholic church, but since the Protestant Reformation has been a Lutheran diocese within the Church of Sweden, with its seat in S ...

. One of Sweden's oldest stone churches, it is noted for its well-preserved 15th-century frescos, possibly the work of Master Amund.

History and architecture

Gökhem Church is one of Sweden's oldest churches. Tree-ring dating of the church's beams indicates it was built around 1077. Built of sandstone and limestone, it originally consisted of a rounded

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and a wider

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 ...

. A chapel and a sacristy were later added to the north of the chancel. While many of the windows have been enlarged, the one on the north side of the chancel has remained unaltered since the Middle Ages. The bell tower is said to have been built by Russian prisoners in the 1720s."Gökhems kyrka"
Kyrkokartan.se. Retrieved 4 September 2013.

Interior

The vaults, replacing an earlier flat wooden ceiling, were built c. 1485. Until about 1720, there was a

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

and a medieval altar. The image of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

was then moved into the chapel. The 18th-century

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 decorated with paintings of the prophets and disciples while the organ loft has modern paintings of the apostles. The sculpted figures below the pulpit are from the 17th century. The church has two 12th-century fonts, one from the nearby Överkyrke Church which is now a ruin.

Frescos

The church walls and ceiling are decorated with 15th-century

frescos Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting becom ...

in shades of brown, green and blue-grey. Those in the vaults of the nave have never been covered in whitewash and are therefore unusually well preserved. Those on the walls, which have been restored, are in worse condition. Those in the apse and chancel have suffered from the blue paint with which they were covered in the 19th century. The resemblance of the frescos with those in

Södra Råda Church Södra Skogsägarna, trading as Södra, is a forestry cooperative based in Växjö, Sweden. More than 52,000 forest owners in southern Sweden are members of the economic association that is Södra. They own just over half of all privately owned fo ...

indicate they may well have been painted by the same artist: Master Amund. The chancel frescos include paintings of the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

, the

Fathers of the Church The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

and the

prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the ...

. The central vault depicts scenes from the Creation, while in the western part of the nave there are images of the deadly sins and the

seven virtues In Christian history, the seven heavenly virtues combine the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude with the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The seven capital virtues, also known as seven l ...

. Mary and the rosary can be seen on the north wall. The legend of

Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian saint and Virginity, virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a ...

decorates the porch.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gokhem Church Churches in the Diocese of Skara Romanesque church buildings Churches in Västra Götaland County Church frescos in Sweden Falköping Municipality