Inspired Sunday: Ängelholm Church

Ängelholm Church
Diocese of Lund
Skåne, Sweden

The church in Ängelholm (Skåne, Sweden) dates back to the early 18th century. It was then built on the ruins of an older wooden church that had been burnt down in a war back in 1565. The church has been through a number of renovations over the years. The altar piece is from 1941 and painted by a Swedish artist, Torsten Nordberg  (1900-1962).  I think that stained glass window is by him as well.

(Photos from July, 2019)

From visiting many churches on our road trips the past few years, I have noted that "baptismal trees" is a growing new tradition. The shape of the tree may vary (and may not always even be a tree), but on it you'll find name tags with the names of those recently christened in the church.

A theology essay I found online draws the conclusion that the tradition seems to have arisen in the 1990s, with the purpose to strengthen the bond between those who regularly visit the church for Sunday services, and those who perhaps only come there to attend private baptism ceremonies.

The Church of Sweden is an Evangelical Lutheran national church. It became Lutheran in 1593 and remained a state church until 2000. It is still the largest Christian denomination in Sweden and still retaining a certain exceptional position. Liturgically it is "high church" even if practices may vary a bit from one place to another. 
    
  
Inspired Sunday #327

Sepia Saturday - Varberg

The Bath House & the Fortress. Varberg.

A postcard from my great-uncle Gustaf's collection. The bath house at the beach below Varberg Fortress was built in 1903. The photo is likely to be from between 1903-1913.

The stamp has been removed and there is no date written on the card. But from late 1902 until 1911, Gustaf was living in America; and the card is addressed to him at the family farm in Sweden. Most likely it was sent to him between 1911-1913 (when he was back living there again).

My own photo of the same view, from July 2019. 

(Yes, you may already have seen this in a recent post here. That's what triggered my memory and made me look for the old postcard...)

The Fortress, built around 1300, is nowadays a museum.

On the first day of this year's holiday trip, we had lunch at the café up at the fortress; and also briefly popped in to have a look at the forge they've opened up for  tourists to see a blacksmith at work...

... which is really my main reason for linking to: 

 Sepia Saturday 481

The Sixth Day - The Last Day

On the sixth and last day of our trip (July 13), we again basically drove the same roads as on Day 1; but still managed to get some variation by making different detours and stopping at other places.

Our first (rather short) stop was at Laholm, a small town which is one of the oldest cities in Sweden, and the oldest in the province of Halland. It received its first city charter in the 13th century, when it belonged to Denmark. During the wars between Sweden and Denmark in the 16th and 17 centuries, Laholm was burnt down several times; but it still has narrow little streets reminding of the medieval times. Sitting on the top of a hill, it also has some beautiful views:

However, what seems to have attracted my camera the most during our brief walk-around, was fountains and sculptures:

The girl with birds in her hair reminded me of Pippi Longstocking (and also our present-day teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg). Looking for more info about the sculpture, I only find that it was made by Ernst Eberlein in 1974. And all I find about him is that he was a Danish sculptor who lived 1911-1993. 

However, another website confirms that Laholm does have an unusual amount of sculptures for a small town: about 30 of them, which means one sculpture per 200 inhabitants!

We did not see all of those; but in a garden close to where we parked the car, we could not help noticing this:

He gave me a strange dejá vu feeling when I saw him... A bit eerie, since I don't really remember having visited Laholm before. Might just be those eyes!! (lol) But... If he's been in that same place ever since 1888, I suppose it is possible that I did see him before. (No, not in another life - even if it almost feels like that. But on another trip through this area some 40+ years ago...)

After Laholm, we went in search of a huge iron age burial field, but found a small seashell beach instead... And if you are getting a creepy déja vu feeling now - don't worry! Because yes, I already told that story - in separate post entitled Somewhere by the Sea.

After that little excursion, we went on to Halmstad - another old port city, which once upon a time belonged to Denmark. 
 

There, we started by visiting one of the more modern additions to the city's architecture - a glass building that goes out over the water, housing a public Library and Art Gallery. (And a cafeteria, where we had lunch.) 

Glass sculpture in the Library, Halmstad

After lunch and a look around inside this building, we went for a stroll in the town center. 

Market square

St Nikolai Church, Halmstad

We also had a look inside the church, which among other things has some beautiful stained glass windows.

 Charming old half-timbered buildings

If we hadn't just recently had lunch, we would have been tempted to have coffee/tea here, just because it looked so inviting!

Halmstad also has an old castle, dating back to the early 17th century when Halland was a province of Denmark. Since then,the castle has been restored several times. Nowadays it is the residence and offices of the governor of Halland County. Some other local authorities have offices here as well. (As it is not open to the public as a museum, we only had a look outside.)

Old ship at the quayside near the castle, Halmstad

From Halmstad we drove along the coast back up to Varberg.

We decided not to go all the way out to this lighthouse, though.
(The first photo is my original; the second is cropped.)

Old windmill

The seaside resort Varberg was our first stop on Day 1; and also our last stop on the way home. This time, we did not go up to the fort, but had tea/ coffee at the café out at the old open air bath house (built in 1903).

As it was still nice and sunny at the coast, but we saw clouds  towering up over the inland, we did not feel in a hurry to leave the seaside... So we lingered for a bit, and also went for a walk on the pier.

Eventually it was time to get back to the car for the last 90 km drive inland back to Borås, though... 

And "of course" - when we were about five minutes from home... 

Never mind! As those were the only drops of rain we had that whole week, not much to complain about!