Vårfrukyrkan

Enköping, Sweden

Vårfrukyrkan (Our Lady’s Church) was built in the 12th century in the same style as Sigtuna and Old Uppsala churches. The star vaulting and enlargement were completed in the 15th century. The wooden tower was added in 1839. There are remains medieval mural paintings as well as newer painted by C. W. Petterson in 1904.

References:
  • Marianne Mehling et al. Knaurs Kulturführer in Farbe. Schweden. München 1987.

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Address

Genvägen, Enköping, Sweden
See all sites in Enköping

Details

Founded: 12th century
Category: Religious sites in Sweden
Historical period: Consolidation (Sweden)

Rating

4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Enköping Museum (0,3 km)
Enköping Monastery Ruins (0,9 km)
Rickeby Rock Carvings (4,7 km)


Gripsholm Castle (43,3 km)
Mariefred Charterhouse Ruins (43 km)
Anundshög (24,6 km)
Roggeborgen (29,4 km)
Strängnäs Cathedral (29,4 km)
Mälsåker Castle (31 km)
Vänge Church (31,2 km)
Sundbyholm Castle (33,5 km)
Birka (42,6 km)

User Reviews

Birgitta Lidgren (14 months ago)
Sagolikt vacker kyrka, varsamt renoverad. Historiskt viktig. Kunnig guide
Torbjorn Wirf (2 years ago)
One of Sweden's most beautiful churches. Located high above Enköping. Albert Pictor's paintings inside the church are fantastic. A must if you like churches or visit Enköping.
Simon Larsson (2 years ago)
An impressive church in build and location, overlooking the town from atop the esker, and a very pretty one inside. The ceiling and wall paintings are worthy of a visit themselves, but there are also many interesting relics to behold. More accessible and complete historical information would have earned this place a full score, but it is nevertheless well worth at least a quick visit.
Simon Larsson (2 years ago)
An impressive church in build and location, overlooking the town from atop the esker, and a very pretty one inside. The ceiling and wall paintings are worthy of a visit themselves, but there are also many interesting relics to behold. More accessible and complete historical information would have earned this place a full score, but it is nevertheless well worth at least a quick visit.
Lars Krog (3 years ago)
Very fine Church on the top of the town
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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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