12th Century Church

Last week, dear husband had the whole week off as part of his summer vacation which was well timed since we used the week to prepare the house for the baby that is soon to come (3.5 mths and counting!). But after a week of hard work, shopping and setting up furniture, we decided on a well deserved treat by bringing his grandparents to Stubbegården for lunch.

As mentioned before, Stubbegården is a pretty, very quaint, old Swedish style house set in the middle of old Swedish countryside that serves a nice spread of traditional cold Swedish dishes and pastries, buns and cakes.

I love the interior decoration of the place, even though it can be a little bit cramped but that was the style in those days.

Grandma Inger and me enjoying the backyard where they had outdoor serving but it was a little too chilly for us. Maybe in the summertime.

The view from the backyard. Stubbegården is situated literally in the middle of the countryside and there isn't much of other buildings for a long way off.

Across from Stubbegården, horses had come out to graze and apparently nap in the sun (you can see something that looks like a dead horse in the background. It was sleeping, I checked). some of the horses were really friendly and let me pet them!! They are SO beautiful!

After lunch, we decided to head down to a nearby church that was supposed to be really old. I had always seen the top of the church tower but did not realise until that day just how close it was to Stubbegården. It was literally a 3 minute drive down a lane that lead straight to the church.

I can't remember the name of the church but it was apparently built during the 12th century! Articles about the church are display and researchers and scientists had actually done tests on the wood of the foundation and found that the wood had been cut in the winter of 1150 or something like that. I dunno how they can determine that but it's amazing! I've never been in a building so old before!!

According to husband dear, the protruding rotunda seen here is now an almost non existent architectural feature of churches as it became out of fashion sometime in the 15th century. There is maybe only one other church in Sweden that still has that feature.

It was very quiet and serene on the church grounds with not a sign of life in sight but the church doors were open and we could go in to take a closer look. Most of the features in the church are originals and date back to between the 12th and 17th century. It was very interesting to see statues and baptism bowls that were that old and open for all to see and touch.

There were murals on the entire church ceiling although most of it had faded except for the very centre of the church building.

It's amazing just how well preserved the paintings on the ceiling in the middle of the church are. I think it's partly due to the structure and design of the ceiling that protects that part of the ceiling from most of the sunlight that shines in through the large windows.

The church also has a large organ that is placed on the upper floor overlooking the entire church hall. This organ was built in the 16th century. The upper balcony where the organ player would have to sit is very cramped and had space for only one so I guess if they had a church choir, they would have had to sing somewhere downstairs.

A baptism pool (is that what it's called? I have no idea.) dating back to the 12th or 13th century I believe. It's situated right by the altar at the front of the church hall.

Another baptism pool but this one dates back to 1690.