Rone Church ( sv, Rone kyrka) is a medieval church in

Rone Rone is the pseudonym of Tyrone Wright (born 1980), an internationally renowned street artist based in Melbourne, Australia. History Rone grew up in the city of Geelong, Victoria, before moving to Melbourne in 2001. In 2002, he started dec ...

on the Swedish island of

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to th ...

. The Gothic church contains a number of medieval murals. It is part of the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Swed ...

and lies in the

Diocese of Visby The Diocese of Visby ( sv, Visby stift) is a division of the Church of Sweden consisting of the island of Gotland. Its seat is Visby Cathedral located in the largest town on Gotland, Visby. The Bishop of Visby is also responsible for the episc ...

History

The presently visible,

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

church was very probably preceded by a smaller, Romanesque church. Of this first church nothing remains except a few fragments, later incorporated in the Gothic church. The oldest parts of the present structure are the

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-typ ...

and

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

, erected c. 1300, with the lower part of the tower from the same date. It was extended upwards during the middle of the 14th century, making the tall tower the youngest part of the church. The church has remained largely unchanged ever since. A renovation was carried out in 1913–15, and again in 1954–55 by architect Eiler Graebe.

Architecture

The church is a relatively homogeneous Gothic church. The tall tower has been used as a

navigational aid Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

ever since the

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

. It was made by the same stonemason and workshop responsible for creating the towers at

Öja Öja may refer to: * Öja (Finland), an island in Kokkola region, Finland * Öja, Nynäshamn, an island in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden * Öja, Gotland Öja is a populated area, a socken (not to be confused with parish), on the Swedish isla ...

Stånga Stånga is a locality on the Swedish island of Gotland, with 491 inhabitants in 2014. Stånga is also the name of the larger populated area, socken (not to be confused with parish). It comprises the same area as the administrative Stånga Distric ...

Dalhem Dalhem (; wa, Dålem) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2012 Dalhem had a total population of 6,996. The total area is 36.06 km² which gives a population density of 180 inhabitants pe ...

and

Gothem Gothem () is a populated area, a socken (not to be confused with parish), on the Swedish island of Gotland. It comprises the same area as the administrative Gothem District, established on 1January 2016. Geography Gothem is the name of the so ...

churches, an anonymous artist or workshop to whom art historians have assigned the

notname In art history, a ''Notname'' (, "necessity-name" or "contingency-name") is an invented name given to an artist whose identity has been lost. The practice arose from the need to give such artists and their typically untitled, or generically title ...

Egypticus. The northern portal of the tower has a stone

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

depicting

Saint Botvid Saint Botvid was a Christian missionary in Sweden during the 11th and early 12th centuries. Biography Botvid, who was born in Södermanland, Sweden, went on a trade trip to England where he came into contact with Christianity and was converted t ...

, lying on a fish; a motif found on all the churches by Master Egypticus. The two southern portals of the church (leading to the nave and choir, respectively) also feature sculpted

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

. Inside, the church is decorated with medieval murals from two different periods. The oldest, dating from c. 1300, are purely decorative, depicting floral motifs. The other set dates from the middle of the 15th century and have been identified as being by the

Master of the Passion of Christ The Passion Master ( sv, Passionsmästaren) is the name used to refer to an anonymous fresco painter and his workshop, active on Gotland during the 15th century. Works in about fifty churches have been attributed to the artist. The style of the Mas ...

. They display scenes from the

Passion of Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

, the childhood of Christ and (possibly) the

Binding of Isaac The Binding of Isaac ( he, , ), or simply "The Binding" (, ), is a story from Genesis 22 of the Hebrew Bible. In the biblical narrative, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Moriah. As Abraham begins to comply, having bound Isaa ...

. The church also still has some medieval stained glass window panes.

Medieval stained glass in Sweden The surviving amount of medieval stained glass in Sweden is relatively small, compared to some other European countries. There are in total 165 medieval stained glass panes with figurative depictions surviving in 37 churches, constituting a tota ...

survives in only about thirty churches. The ones in Rone are among the oldest of their kind on Gotland and may originally have been placed in the earlier, Romanesque church. They are now placed in the three east windows and were supplemented with imitations during the 1913-15 renovation. The medieval stained glass windows depict scenes from the childhood of Christ, the

raising of Lazarus Lazarus of Bethany (Latinised from Lazar, ultimately from Hebrew Eleazar, "God helped"), also venerated as Righteous Lazarus, the Four-Days Dead in the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the subject of a prominent sign of Jesus in the Gospel of John, ...

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurr ...

and other religious motifs. Among the church furnishings, the

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 ...

and its two adjacent figures depicting

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also call ...

and

John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ; ar, يوحنا الإنجيلي, la, Ioannes, he, יוחנן cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ or ⲓⲱ̅ⲁ) is the name traditionally given t ...

is a locally crafted piece made c. 1400. A medieval

cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...

has also been preserved in the church collections. The other furnishings date from after the

reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject 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 ...

is from 1694 and 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, access ...

from 1595. The

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring) ...

was made in 1664 while the well-preserved

pew A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom. Overview The first backless stone benches began to appear in English churches in the thi ...

s date from the 17th and 18th centuries. The

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

is from 1876. Rone church has been proved to be the tallest church on the island Gotland.

References

External links

* {{Churches on Gotland Gothic architecture in Sweden Churches in Gotland County Churches in the Diocese of Visby Church frescos in Sweden Churches converted from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church of Sweden

History

Architecture

References

Further reading

External links