Visby Cathedral, Visby, Sweden

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.

References:

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

User Reviews

Marcus Mattsson (2 years ago)
Was there for the memorial service, a very nice church

Per Blomberg (3 years ago)
Fantastic atmosphere. Very nice!

Velazquez Marcos (3 years ago)
Visby's beautiful cathedral... such a small city of 24,000 inhabitants and such a complete and large cathedral is surprising. Very good acoustics and beautiful stained glass windows. They have a daily organ and a huge one for special days as I show in the photos. Recommendable experience.

Malin (3 years ago)
Beautiful plantings, like this magnolia at the bishop's courtyard.

Ylva Åkerman (4 years ago)
Beautiful St. Mary's Church

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Zvonimir Hrvoj

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Visby Cathedral

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