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Founded: 1647Category: Religious sites in Sweden
Historical period: Swedish Empire (Sweden)
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The oldest parts of the present stone church in the Arvika originate from the mid-17th century, but there has been before a medieval wooden church dedicated to St. Michael. The existing stone church consists of a rectangular nave with a triangular choir, vestry and tower. The construction of the church began in 1647, but was not completely finished in the 17th century. The current appearance is derived from a radical transformation made in the 1780s, partly by C.F. Adelcrantz drawings.
the altarpiece was made by Isaac Schullström in 1765 and the pulpit of Isaac Schullström dates from the 1739. On the church's north side stands a statue made by Christian Eriksson. The artist is buried right in front of the statue. Tomb chapel at the cemetery was built in 1923, the church is also a parish magazine and a parish hall. Cemetery is bounded by a drywall.
References:The Goseck circle is a Neolithic circle structure. It may be the oldest and best known of the Circular Enclosures associated with the Central European Neolithic. It also may be one of the oldest Solar observatories in the world. It consists of a set of concentric ditches 75 metres across and two palisade rings containing gates in places aligned with sunrise and sunset on the solstice days.
Its construction is dated to c. 4900 BC, and it seems to have remained in use until 4600 BC. This corresponds to the transitional phase between the Neolithic Linear Pottery and Stroke-ornamented ware cultures. It is one of a larger group of so-called Circular Enclosures in the Elbe and Danube region, most of which show similar alignments.
Excavators also found the remains of what may have been ritual fires, animal and human bones, and a headless skeleton near the southeastern gate, that could be interpreted as traces of human sacrifice or specific burial ritual. There is no sign of fire or of other destruction, so why the site was abandoned is unknown. Later villagers built a defensive moat following the ditches of the old enclosure.
The Goseck ring is one of the best preserved and extensively investigated of the many similar structures built at around the same time. Traces of the original configuration reveal that the Goseck ring consisted of four concentric circles, a mound, a ditch, and two wooden palisades. The palisades had three sets of gates facing southeast, southwest, and north. At the winter solstice, observers at the center would have seen the sun rise and set through the southeast and southwest gates.
Archaeologists generally agree that Goseck circle was used for observation of the course of the Sun in the course of the solar year. Together with calendar calculations, it allowed coordinating an easily judged lunar calendar with the more demanding measurements of a solar calendar.