Angarn Church () is a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church at

Angarn Angarn () is a former ward in Vallentuna Municipality, Uppland (Stockholm). Since 2006, Angarn has been part of Össeby congregation. In Angarn there are about 450 ancient monuments: cairns and stone circles of Bronze Age type, a remarkable rock ...

Vallentuna Municipality Vallentuna Municipality () is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Vallentuna. The current municipality was established as a result of the municipal reform of 1971. Its coat of arms depic ...

, Stockholm County,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It is located close to

Angarnsjöängen Angarnsjöängen (, also spelt Angarnssjöängen) is a nature reserve circa northeast of Vallentuna, in Southern Uppland, Sweden. It is a wetland with a varying water level depending on the weather. The water rises dramatically each spring as ...

nature reserve. The church is associated with the

Archdiocese of Uppsala The Archdiocese of Uppsala () is one of the thirteen dioceses of the Church of Sweden and the only one having the status of an archdiocese. Lutheran archdiocese Uppsala is the seat of the Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala. The diocese, which has it ...

of the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

History

Although Angarn Church probably dates from the 1280s, it lies in a

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the c ...

with a much older history.

Petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, as well as several significantly later

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

s testify to the old traditions of the place. The church was built on a hill next to an inlet of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

(which has subsequently disappeared as a consequence of

post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound an ...

) and thus was strategically located, easy to reach by boat. The church lies in an enclosed cemetery. On the grounds there are several runestones, and one (

U 201 German submarine ''U-201'' was a Type VIIC U-boat of the ''Kriegsmarine'' in World War II. The submarine was laid down on 20 January 1940 by Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as yard number 630, launched on 7 December 1940, and comm ...

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...

) is also immured in the church. Of the runestones on the church grounds, one (U 203 in Rundata) was possibly made by the only known female

runemaster A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones. Description More than 100 names of runemasters are known from Viking Age Sweden with most of them from 11th-century eastern Svealand.The article ''Runristare'' in ''Nationalencyklo ...

Frögärd i Ösby 150px, U 194 in Väsby has been erroneously attributed to Frögärd. Frögärd Ulvsdotter i Ösby (11th century) was a Swedish Norse woman. She was according to a common misconception believed to be a Viking Age runemaster who was a woman. This n ...

Architecture

The exterior of the church is plain,

whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

, with a few details in

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

. The form is a

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

, and it may be one of the oldest hall churches in Uppland. The church door is probably the original, medieval door, although the lock mechanism dates from the 18th century. The interior of the church is dominated by the

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 ...

ed ceiling, a construction carried out during a major renovation of the church in 1795-96. Much of the rest of the interior of the church is also characterised by the architectural ideals of the late 18th century. Among the furnishings are the 13th century

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 ...

made on

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

and the Romanesque

triumphal cross A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixion ...

dating from the 12th century. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

and

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

are both from the late 18th century; the neoclassical pulpit was carved by the royal ornament sculptor

Petter Ljung Petter may refer to: People * Petter (given name) * Petter (surname) * Petter (rapper), stage name of Swedish rapper Petter Alexis Askergren (born 1974) Other uses * Petter Bay Petter Bay () is a bight 0.5 nautical miles (0.9 km) south of ...

(1743-1819) and the pews are imitations of 18th century pews made in the 1940s. Among the rarest objects belonging to the church is a

chasuble The chasuble () is the outermost liturgical vestment worn by clergy for the celebration of the Eucharist in Western-tradition Christian churches that use full vestments, primarily in Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. In the Eastern ...

, dating from the 16th century. The organ was set up in the church in 1849, but is probably built around the year 1800. The church has an external wooden

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

constructed in 1661 containing two bells; the oldest probably from the early 14th century and the other dating from mid-18th century.

References

External links

Official site (in Swedish)
* {{Churches in Uppland Churches in Stockholm County 13th-century churches in Sweden Churches in the Diocese of Stockholm (Church of Sweden) Churches converted from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church of Sweden Vallentuna Municipality