Hästveda Church () is a medieval church in

Hästveda Hästveda is a locality situated in Hässleholm Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 1,623 inhabitants in 2010. The etymology of Hästveda indicates that the name originally signified a wood, or forest where horses were kept. Hästveda Ch ...

, in the province of

Skåne Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

, Sweden.

History

The church was built at the end of the 12th century, but has undergone several changes throughout its history. A

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

, later demolished, was built during the 15th century and during that century the interior of the church was also remade, and the currently visible Gothic vaults constructed. Substantial changes were also made during the 19th century. The church tower partially collapsed and was rebuilt, albeit lower, to designs by Helgo Zettervall. At the same time, in 1865, the western addition to the church was built. During a restoration in 1939-1940, the medieval murals were discovered under layers of

whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

and uncovered.

Murals

The church is richly decorated with murals from two different time periods. In the

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 ' ...

there are Romanesque murals from the second half of the 13th century, depicting

Christ in Majesty Christ in Majesty or Christ in Glory () is the Western Christian image of Christ seated on a throne as ruler of the world, always seen frontally in the centre of the composition, and often flanked by other sacred figures, whose membership change ...

surrounded by 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 ...

. Underneath, the

Apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

are depicted in a row. The other set of paintings decorate the vaults in 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. They are Gothic in style and depict religious scenes from the Bible. They were made some time before 1487, since the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of two

Danish noble families Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A Danish person, also called a "Dane", can be a national or citizen of Denmark (see Demographics of Denmark) * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, ...

(the province of Skåne was at the time Danish) from

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

who are known to have owned estates in the area previous to that date decorate the walls. Very probably it was these two families who commissioned the painting of the murals.

Furnishings

The oldest item in the church is the simple

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

from the 12th century. 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 1598 and made in the workshop of Jacob Kremberg. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter 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 or sculpture, ...

by Johan Ullberg is from 1774 but was moved from the apse when the murals there were discovered and uncovered. The smaller of the

church bell A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

s comes from Russia and was brought to Sweden by the lord of Råbelöv Castle, who had served as a colonel in the army. It was bought by the church in 1836. The church also contains the only

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 ...

in , the so-called (

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...

number DR 350 M).

References

External links

* {{Churches in Scania Churches in Skåne County Churches in the Diocese of Lund Church frescos in Sweden Hässleholm Municipality