Allerum Church () is a church in

Allerum Allerum is a locality situated in Helsingborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 716 inhabitants in 2010. Allerum Church contains an altarpiece by artist Johan Christoffer Boklund and fragments of medieval mural paintings. Notable people ...

, in the province of

Skåne Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

, Sweden. The tower and chancel of the church are medieval, while the rest of the church was heavily rebuilt during the 18th and 19th centuries. It contains an altarpiece by artist Johan Christoffer Boklund and fragments of medieval mural paintings.

History and architecture

Allerum Church was built in the 1150s and originally consisted of a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

with an

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

. It was enlarged in the 14th century, and the tower was built during the 15th century. A

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

was built 1500. Only the tower and chancel remain of the medieval church. In 1767 the southern

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

was built, and at that time the apse was also demolished. The northern transept was built in 1834, and the interior of the church equipped with a

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

. The northern church porch was also demolished. The church underwent a major renovation in 1910. During the renovation, a decorated Romanesque tympanon from the former southern portal was discovered in the vicinity of the church. It is today in the Historical Museum at Lund University in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

. The church still contains remains of medieval murals. The walls of the chancel contains fragments of Romanesque paintings as well as paintings from the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

contains murals from the 16th century that depict the

Binding of Isaac The Binding of Isaac (), or simply "The Binding" (), is a story from Book of Genesis#Patriarchal age (chapters 12–50), chapter 22 of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. In the biblical narrative, God in Abrahamic religions, God orders A ...

and Samson and the lion. The oldest item in the church is the unadorned

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

from the 12th century. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

is from 1861 and made by artist Johan Christoffer Boklund, who was born at nearby Kulla Gunnarstorp Castle. The church has two

church bell A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

s, of which the oldest is from 1520 and contains an inscription to

Saint Giles Saint Giles (, , , , ; 650 - 710), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 7th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly legendary. A ...

. The other bell is from 1636.

References

External links

* {{Churches in Scania Churches in Skåne County Churches in the Diocese of Lund Helsingborg Municipality