A reliable document tells us that the church was consecrated in 1280.
This applies to the present building, a beautiful piece of early Gothic
architecture with power and elasticity in the curvatures of the portals
and stylized foliage ornaments. But it was a result of several building
periods. The oldest preserved detail is the framework of the door to the
vestry, which, was originally the chancel portal of a little 12th century
church with an apse. To this a tower was added about 1200, still standing.
It opens to the nave with a double arch. Note the remarkable sculptures
on its column capital: a saint enthroned, a buffoon standing on his hands
and a buck and a lion, whose heads meet in a corner, and in the fourth corner
an eagle biting over the curve of the capital. These are motifs characteristic
of the stone master called "Calcarius" (about 1190-1230); his
material was limestone, not sandstone as previously, hence his cognomen.
The grotesque figures appear, too, on the base of the baptismal font, which
is the only font by the master left in Gotland (others are known from Slesvig,
Ostergötland and Norrland). Johannes Bartsch from Visby painted the
altar piece in 1654. The pews are on the whole from the early 18th century
and the pulpit is dated 1751.
Photo Hans Hemlin
Text Dr. Bengt G Söderberg
©1997 Created by Sören_Gannholm