Hagby Church, Ljungbyholm, Sweden

Hagby Church is one of Sweden's few preserved round churches, and is considered by many to be the best preserved one in the country. The predecessor of Hagby stone church was the wooded Saint Sigfrid chapel, which was located about two kilometres south of the present church structure. The construction of this stone church began in the late 12th century. By 1541 it was abandoned.

The structure was meant to serve both as a sanctuary and a fortified building. As a result, the upper part of the walls has openings for shooting and spear throwing. The most recent renovation has attempted to emphasize the old nature of the building, so that it is now perhaps the best example of round church architecture, which otherwise is generally mostly found on the island of Bornholm. The triumph crucifix and font dates from the Middle Ages, but the interior is mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries.

References:

Marianne Mehling et al. Knaurs Kulturführer in Farbe. Schweden. München 1987.

User Reviews

Chatarina Hall (13 months ago)
Special nice little church. Could have been some information about the history of the church. Now we had to look online instead.

Lars Bergman (18 months ago)
Fantastically beautiful round church from the 12th century. Unfortunately, the old benches have been removed and replaced by regular chairs. If you compare with, say, St. Lars on Bornholm, the church has lost a bit of its great charm, but is very interesting after all.

Birgitta Massimi (2 years ago)
Amazingly renovated, filled with history (personal too)

Marg F (2 years ago)
Beautiful from the inside with the red window and the glass art.. Great acoustics and old history. Viking age burial ground next to it. The church is on the eastern pilgrimage route of St. Sigfrid, his 11th century portable altar is said to be in this church. Sigfrid's Harbor is not far from here, in Kalboda, Hagby. The source of St. Sigfrid is then 30km further i Källebäcksmala (the pilgrimage route is very well signposted)

meatcrossbow (2 years ago)
Exciting church that is round!

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Visby Cathedral

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.

Hagby Church

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