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Founded: 12th centuryCategory: Religious sites in Sweden
Historical period: Consolidation (Sweden)
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Kyrkoköpinge Church was probably built in a Romanesque style in the late 1100s. Originally it consisted of a nave, a chancel and a vestibule. It had a flat wooden roof but this was replaced with a cross vault in the Middle Ages. At the same time one more tower in the west and a porch in the south was built. Because of the closeness to Gylle church, Kyrkoköpinge and Gylle had the same reverend during a long time. In the year 1555 Kyrkoköpinge church was under a demolition threat. It was considered that the inhabitants in Kyrkoköpinge could go to Gylle instead. Originally there were two entrances, one for men and one for women. The men had to go through the porch, and the women had a separate entrance on the opposite side. The external length of the church is around 26 meters, of which about half is the nave. The outer width is approximately 9 meters. Kyrkoköpinge church is sparsely decorated on the outside.
The stone-made font from the 1100s is the oldest inventory in the church. There is also a medieval crucifix hanging from the vaults. The Renaissance style pulpit was made in the late 1500s and the pulpit in 1631.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.