Jäder Church, Swedish: ''Jäders kyrka'', is a

church building A church, church building, church house, or chapel is a building used for Christian worship services and Christian activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 AD and 256 AD. ''Church'' is also ...

in the village of Jäder,

Eskilstuna Municipality Eskilstuna Municipality () is a municipality in Södermanland County in southeast Sweden, between Lake Mälaren and Lake Hjälmaren. The seat of the municipality is in the city of Eskilstuna. The present municipality was formed in 1971 by the m ...

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 ...

, approximately 10 km east of

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 69,948 inhabitants in 2020, with a total population of 107,806 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality ...

. Belonging to the Lutheran

Church of Sweden 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 List ...

, it is part of Kafjärden Parish in 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 ...

. Until 1995, it was the main church of the historical Jäder Parish.

Architecture

Jäder Church is a significant work of Swedish

renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

, and is sometimes locally jokingly referred to as ''Rekarne domkyrka'', "

Rekarne Rekarne () is the historical name for the north-western part of the province Södermanland in Sweden. It constitutes the lands on both sides of river Eskilstunaån between Lake Mälaren and Lake Hjälmaren and approximately corresponds to the pres ...

Cathedral", owing to its unusually large size for a village church and extensive renaissance decorations. The church is situated on a hill surrounded by fields and built in stone and brick. It consists of a western

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

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

of similar dimensions in the east, a

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

to the north, the Brahe burial chapel opposite the sacristy to the south, 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 ...

and a western tower. The burial chapel and the sacristy form the arms of a latin cross. The walls have

pointed arch A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown meet at an angle at the top of the arch. Also known as a two-centred arch, its form is derived from the intersection of two circles. This architectural element was partic ...

ed windows, and the

gabled roof A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its roof ridge, ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The roof pitch, p ...

is covered in roof

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

. The western tower is crowned by a multi-levelled

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

. The exterior is mainly characterised by the brick walls and mid-17th century ornamental sandstone decorations on the gables.

Interior

The white-washed walls and vaults give the church interior a largely uniform appearance, although the vaults range in age from the late Middle Ages to the 17th century. The choir has more marked gothic influences. There are several epitaphs for local nobility created in the 17th century by Heinrich Wilhelm. The late Gothic

winged altarpiece A winged altarpiece (also ''folding altar'') or winged retable is a special form of altarpiece (reredos, occasionally retable), common in Northern and Central Europe, in which the central image, either a painting or relief sculpture (or some com ...

in Brabant style was originally commissioned for

Storkyrkan Storkyrkan (, ), also called Stockholms domkyrka (Stockholm Cathedral) and Sankt Nikolai kyrka (Church of Saint Nicholas), is the oldest church in Stockholm. Storkyrkan lies in the centre of Stockholm in Gamla stan, between Stockholm Palace and ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and is one of the foremost examples of this altarpiece style in Sweden, built 1514 in

Jan Borman Jan Borman (sometimes Borreman or Borremans, fl. c. 1479–1520) was a Flemish people, Flemish Northern Renaissance sculptor. Life Borman belonged to a family of sculptors. His father was also a sculptor and the two seem to have worked together ...

's workshop in Brussels and painted by

Jan van Coninxlo Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numbe ...

the Younger.

History

The northern wall incorporates parts of a Romanesque

12th century The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of the ...

church which was expanded upon during the second half of the

13th century The 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCI) through December 31, 1300 (MCCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan, which stretched ...

, likely using an aisleless design, with the original medieval porch and sacristy. The tower and vaults were added during the 15th century. During the patronship of Lord High Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna the church was significantly expanded upon and rebuilt, in order to serve as the burial church of the Chancellor and his family. The choir with the

Oxenstierna The Oxenstierna family ( , ) is a Swedish nobility, Swedish noble family, originally from Småland in southern Sweden, and is part of the Swedish ''uradel'', the ancient nobility. History The Oxenstierna family held vast estates in Södermanl ...

burial vault was rebuilt between 1641 and 1643. In 1651–1652 the present sacristy and porches were added and the Brahe burial chapel was finished in 1659 to mirror the sacristy. The spire has been replaced several times over the course of the history of the church. The present spire was designed in

Neo-Renaissance style Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

Helgo Zettervall Helgo Nikolaus Zettervall, older spelling ''Zetterwall'', (21 November 1831 – 17 March 1907) was a Swedish architect and professor of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. He is best known for his drastic restorations of churches and other ...

and finished in 1880.

Burials

Jäder Church was used by the influential

family of nearby

Fiholm Castle Fiholm Manor is a Landed Estate located approximately 20 km West of Eskilstuna in Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. It is privately owned. The Landed Estate of Fiholm was commissioned by the Swedish statesman Axel Oxens ...

as a burial church for several generations, and owes it present renaissance appearance mainly to the Swedish statesman

Axel Oxenstierna Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna (; 1583–1654) was a Swedish statesman and Count of Södermöre. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a confidant of ...

, who commissioned the extensive mid-17th century additions to the church. The Brahe burial chapel and vault was commissioned by

Margareta Brahe Margareta Abrahamsdotter Brahe (28 June 1603, Rydboholm – 15 May 1669, Weferlingen) was a Swedish aristocrat and court official, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg by marriage to Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. She aroused a lot of attentio ...

for the remains of her two first husbands, Bengt Bengtsson Oxenstierna and Johan Oxenstierna, and finished in 1659. * Anna Åkesdotter Bååt (1579-1649), Countess of Södermöre and wife to Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna, Maid of honour to Dowager Queen

Catherine Stenbock Catherine Stenbock (Swedish: ''Katarina Gustavsdotter Stenbock''; 22 July 1535 – 13 December 1621) was Queen of Sweden from 1552 to 1560 as the third and last wife of King Gustav I. Early life Catherine Stenbock was born on 22 July 1535 i ...

. * Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre (1583-1654), Count of Södermöre, Privy Councillor and statesman, Lord High Chancellor of Sweden 1612-1654 * Axel Eriksson Oxenstierna af Södermöre (1652-1676), Count of Södermöre * Bengt Bengtsson Oxenstierna af Eka och Lindö (1591-1643), Privy Councillor and diplomat, Governor-General of Ingria and Livonia * Carl Gustaf Oxenstierna af Södermöre (1655-1686), Count of Södermöre, diplomat * Erik Axelsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre (1624-1656), Count of Södermöre, Privy Councillor and statesman, Lord High Chancellor of Sweden 1654-1656 * Johan Oxenstierna af Södermöre (1611–1657), Count of Södermöre, Privy Councillor and statesman, Lord Marshal of the Realm * Clas Tott (1630-1674), Count of Karleborg, Field Marshal, Privy Councillor, Governor-General of Livonia

References

* {{Coord, 59, 24, 35, N, 16, 41, 28, E, type:landmark_region:SE, display=title Churches in Södermanland County Churches in the Diocese of Strängnäs Eskilstuna Municipality