As hinted at in my last post from Hjo, from there we continued driving south along Lake Vättern, back down to Jönköping. On the way, we stopped at four old countryside churches. The first was Norra Fågelås (norra=north), only about 5 km south of Hjo.
There has probably been a church here since back in the 12th century. The first document mentioning the church is from 1225. Some of the walls are supposed to be from the original church. The building has been reconstructed and repaired several times over the centuries, though.
The wooden bell tower was added in the 1300s. Originally, the tower was probably of a more open construction.
Walking around the church, we noticed this sculptured stone slab in the wall. I haven’t found any info on it online, but my guess is that it may once have been set in the floor indoors, as a funeral/memorial slab. (It was common in medeival times for the most wealthy and important families to have their graves within the church rather than in the graveyard.) This church wasn’t open when we were there, so we could not go inside.
I like the church, it is so pretty, not to fond of the onion shapped tower top though.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly displays a mix of styles! But then it's been around for over 800 years... :)
DeleteThat is a beautiful old church. like te memorial at the end
ReplyDeleteOh, and I rather like the onion dome! Though it does almost seem like a bit of whimsy.
ReplyDelete