Gustaf Vasa Church () is a church located in the

Vasastaden Vasastan, or Vasastaden, may refer to: * Vasastan, Stockholm, a district in Stockholm, Sweden * Vasastan, Gothenburg, a district in Gothenburg, Sweden * Vasastaden, Linköping Vasastaden is a city district in Linköping, consisting of mostly ap ...

district of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

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 ...

. Inaugurated in 1906 and named after 16th-century King

Gustav Vasa Gustav Eriksson Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), also known as Gustav I, was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560. He was previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm (''Reichsverweser#Sweden, Riksföreståndare'') fr ...

, it was designed by architect

Agi Lindegren August "Agi" Lindegren (December 29, 1858 – 16 November 1927) was a Swedish architect and illustrator. Biography Lindegren was born at Hudiksvall in Gävleborg County, Sweden. He studied at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm i ...

in the

Baroque Revival The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in ...

style. Situated between two busy avenues partially lined with trees, its dome rises above the nearby

Odenplan Odenplan is a plaza located in the district Vasastaden in central Stockholm, Sweden. History Odenplan was named after the old Norse god Odin. Odenplan metro station, opened in 1952, and Stockholm Odenplan commuter train station on the Stoc ...

plaza. The

floor plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

is in the shape of a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Jesus, Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

and seats 1,200 people, making it one of the largest churches in Stockholm.

Interior

The high

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, ...

was designed and built by

Burchard Precht Burchard Precht (24 October 1651 – 26 February 1738) was a Swedish-German furniture maker and sculptor. He is best known for his contributions to Stockholm Cathedral and Uppsala Cathedral; he designed the altarpiece for Uppsala in 1728. Precht ...

in his workshop between 1728 and 1731. It is Sweden's largest sculptural work in the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style, originally created for

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral () is a cathedral located between the University Hall (Uppsala University), University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in t ...

. Stored away at the

Skansen Skansen (; "the Sconce") is the oldest open-air museum and zoo in Sweden located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened on 11 October 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts ...

museum for several years, it finally ended up at the Gustaf Vasa Church in 1906. Viktor Andren painted the interior of the dome and features an interpretation of the

Transfiguration of Jesus The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event described in the New Testament where Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is Transfiguration (religion), transfigured and becomes radiant in Glory (religion), glory upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels (, , ) r ...

. The church also has several other frescoes done by the same artist, depicting the

Four Evangelists In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...

, the

Baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

, the

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, ''The Last Supper (Leonardo), The Last Supper'' (1495-1498). Mural, tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic ...

, the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

and the

Decalogue The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten C ...

. The church

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

was built to the wishes of composer

Otto Olsson Otto Emanuel Olsson (19 December 1879 – 1 September 1964) was a Swedish organist and classical music composer. Life and career Olsson, a native of Stockholm, was one of the most renowned organ virtuosos of his time. He studied organ with Augu ...

, who was also the church organist from 1907 to 1956. The organ has 76 voices spread over three manuals and pedals. The crypt beneath the church was originally used as a burial chapel and was expanded in 1924 with what is most likely Sweden's first

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

References

External links

*
Panorama of the interior
{{Authority control 20th-century Church of Sweden church buildings Churches in the Diocese of Stockholm (Church of Sweden) Baroque Revival church buildings Churches in Stockholm Churches completed in 1906 Church buildings with domes 1906 establishments in Sweden Gustav Vasa 1900s establishments in Stockholm

Interior

See also

References

External links