The Lundby Old Church is one of the seven preserved medieval churches in Gothenburg, and the only one of them representing Gothic architecture. The church was probably build in the late 14th century. Its Romanesque baptismal font, however, comes from an older wooden church that had existed in the same place and whose remains were not discovered until the early 20th century.
Since the mid-17th century, when the bell tower next to the building was erected, the church has been renovated many times. For example, until the 19th century it had no windows. Following the erection of a new church in the neighborhood in 1886, the Lundby Old Church was supposed to be torn down. It was saved thanks to protests by dean Peter Rydholm. The church was equipped with electricity in 1934 and with a modern ventilation system in 1998, which has been the latest major renovation up to this time.
The coats of arms of the noble families Cronacker, Eketrä, Stålhandske and Ihre can be found in the church. The Stålhandske and Ihre families built their own grave chapels at the southern wall; the Ihre chapel is still preserved today, while the Stålhandske chapel was torn down and the coffins were moved to the family grave in the surrounding churchyard.
The church is surrounded by a small churchyard. It has an area of 1.7 hectares and houses around 1700 graves. The first records of it come from 1788, and the oldest existing map from 1856. The oldest tombstones, however, bear dates from late 17th century. The area has probably been used as a burial ground since the 13th century, as long as the church has existed.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.