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4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)
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User Reviews
rolf vikan (5 years ago)
Mari Skjølberg (6 years ago)
A wonderful fine church
A wonderful fine church
Steve Riedel (6 years ago)
Old Edøy Church was built around the year 1190. It has had numerous renovations over the years to enlarge it and repair it. After several hundred years of use, it was too small and old to continue as the main church for the parish, so it was decided to build a new Edøy Church. The new church would be built to the north, on the island of Smøla instead of the more isolated location of the old church on the small island of Edøya. After the new church was completed in 1885, the old church was not regularly used and in 1887 there was a fire and the church burned down. The ruins of the old church remained until after World War II, when in 1946-1947, the church was rebuilt in a historically-accurate manner and is now protected as a historic site.
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.