Spånga Church () is a church in the Spånga-Tensta

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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 ...

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. It is part of Spånga-Kista Parish in the Diocese of Stockholm. The oldest part of the church originates from 1175–1200. Large reconstructions and enhancements took place during the 14th and 15th centuries. Baron Gustaf Bonde (1620–1667), owner of the nearby Hässelby Palace, made considerable donations to the church. After his death a chancel tomb, designed by the architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, was added onto the church, in which he and his descendants are buried. The church also contains other historical monuments, such as several fresco paintings from the

Middle Ages 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 global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The church was last renovated between 1953 and 1955.

Paintings

The first church paintings are probably from the 14th century, when the long

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 ...

was built. These were mostly abstract decorations, geometrical patterns and ornaments. Paintings from the early 15th century are interpreted as biblical motifs from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

, the prophets Elijah and Elisha, but with landscapes, houses, clothing and tools common at the time of painting. The name(s) of the painter(s) from this period are not known. In the late 15th century the triumphal arch was set up, as well as a new

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 ...

, and paintings from this period are of a different style, with motives from both the Old and

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

, as well as later saints. During a church restoration in 1789 all paintings were covered with white paint. The interior walls remained white until a new restoration around 1900 was undertaken. This restoration was quite rough, and the walls were repainted. In the 1950s the walls underwent a new restoration, which aimed to bring forth some of the original medieval paintings that had been covered 160 years earlier.

Runestone

Three

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

runestones stand outside the church. There are also several fragments of runestones inside the church. One of the runestones is designated as U 61 in Rundata and is made of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

. On one side the stone has a runic inscription within bands with an interior Christian cross design, and on the other side it has a second cross. It is classified as being carved in runestone style RAK, which is the oldest style. This classification is used for those inscriptions where the runic text band ends are straight and do not have any attached serpent or animal heads. The runic inscription for stylistic reasons has been attributed to a runemaster named Gunnar.Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for U 61. Other runestones are also attributed to this runemaster and he signed the runic inscription U 226 at Arkils tingstad. Of the personal names mentioned in the inscription, ''Þorbiorn'' or ''Þorbjôrn'' means ' Thor's Bear', ''Gunnbiorn'' or ''Gunnbjôrn'' means 'Battle Bear', ''Halfdan'' means 'Half Dane', ''Ulf'' or ''Ulfr'' means 'Wolf', and ''Biorn'' or ''Bjôrn'' means 'Bear'.

Inscription

A transliteration of the runic inscription to Roman letters is: : A transcription into Old Norse is: : A translation into English is: :Hialmviðr and Þorbiorn, Gunnbiorn and Halfdan raised this stone after (in memory of) their brother Ulf and their father Biorn and their brother Blakare.

Notable events

In 1901, Spånga Church was one of two churches designated control points for the first-ever public

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competition held in Sweden. On August 26, 1974, Arne Domnérus, playing saxophone, and Gustav Sjökvist, playing organ, recorded their highly-acclaimed album, ''Antiphone Blues'', in this church.

References

External links