Täby Church, Täby, Sweden

Täby Church was built during the latter half of the 13th century. It was first constructed as a square hall. In mid 14th century a vestry was added and about 100 years later the church porch was built. During the second half of the 15th century, the flat wooden ceiling was replaced by a vaulted ceiling. The altarpiece dates from the 1470s.

The church is best known as one of the churches with mural paintings by Albertus Pictor (died 1511). The paintings in the ceiling were made in the 1480s and were never, as many of his other works, covered by white paint. The paintings include a picture of a man playing chess with Death, a motif that inspired Ingmar Bergman in his making the movie The Seventh Seal. The main inspiration for the paintings was Biblia Pauperum, a collection of events from the Holy Bible. The pulpit is from the 1630s and was originally placed in the chapel of the former Castle of Stockholm.

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User Reviews

Björn Arvidsson (5 months ago)
A very special church from the 1400s with many interesting stories to learn about. A very friendly janitor of the church shared interesting stories about the past. Nobody should miss the painting of Death playing chess for obvious reasons. Ingemar Bergman had an intriguing mind to come up with his script based on the painting.

Leanne Swift (7 months ago)
Well worth a visit. A stunning interior to a 13th century church with chalk paintings from the 1400's covering the interior. Peaceful and beautiful, we did have to call for a caretaker to open up, but he did so quite quickly. They recommend calling ahead but the number we found was wrong, the number is listed in the door. There's a car park across the road for church visitors and an old belfry across the road that's well worth visiting too. Contains the famous painting of a man playing chess with death at the top of the stairs to the organ loft.

Pho Nam Ly (2 years ago)
Lovely

Nguyen Anh (2 years ago)
Something should see

Clair L (2 years ago)
So much generosity to share the history of this church with us.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Infomastern

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Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.

Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.

There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.

Täby Church

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