Last week I blogged about the church at Norra Fågelås. A bit further south from there – with a bit of luck, and/or a good map or GPS – you’ll also find Södra Fågelås, at the end of a narrow countryside road. (The sign says “The public road ends here.”)
This church was built in the 1600, and unlike the one in N Fågelås, this one is all wood.
The bell tower is from the late 1800s and was built to replace an older one which was destroyed in a fire.
From various pieces of information found on different websites, I gather that the church has not always been red; but has been at least since 1942.
Much of the interior of the original church was also destroyed by a fire in the past (I presume the same one as the old bell tower). The church was not open when we were there, so we could not go inside. But if you click here, the link will take you to a website which shows the interior. (When on the page, if you click and move your cursor, you’ll be able to see it from all angles. You can also zoom in on details by scrolling.)
And if that link doesn’t work when you try it, here’s a postcard I bought (found in another church in the area).
13 comments:
...I see many wooden churches in this area, t few red ones. This lovely with the stone wall.
I love it! In the first picture, it looks modern. But the stone wall gives it away. The bell tower has such beautiful detailed work on it; it is GORGEOUS! That is my favorite picture. I'm thinking there is no bell in it, and it is never rung. Gosh, the bell tower looks bigger than the church! Is that also wood around the front door? I love the shapes, like a gingerbread house. So beautiful. All the little touches here are wonderful, even the surroundings are beautiful. The inside is very unusual and different, from another period.
The bell tower is gorgeous!
Is it usual to have the tower separate from the church?
Beautiful and unusual!
beautiful inside and out. I love that red bell tower to... and I always love seeing stone fence.. beautiful
Around here, more stone churches than wooden ones. But when doing a bit of research one often finds that the first church on the spot was a wooden one that either got too small etc or was destroyed by fire at some point.
It is a big bell tower, yes. It was hard to find a place from where one could fit both the church and the bell tower into the same picture! The Swedish Wiki article says there are two bells within the tower.
I can't say how common it is to have the bells in a separate tower compared to having the tower attached to the church. I think many old churches were built without a bell tower at first and when they decided to add one, the solutions differed. I have seen 20th century city churches with separate bell towers as well, though. And the "free" evangelical churches/chapels (belonging to other denominations than the Lutheran Church of Sweden) usually have no church bells or tower at all.
Yes, especially the bell tower has an unusual architecture, I'm not sure I've seen any other quite like it. Had I just seen a picture, not knowing where from, I'd have guessed it to be from a bit further north in Sweden, like the province of Dalarna.
Stone fences surrounding a country church (when there is also a graveyard) must be more common than not having one... Reading your comment, I realize that I'd probably react more if there wasn't one!
The interior of the church shown on the website is absolutely amazingly beautiful. I am astounded.
I was fascinated myself when I found it - to be able to look around and see it from every angle just as if being there in reality.
What a shame it was not open, the belltower is unusual but I have seen the like here
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