Skurup Church ( sv, Skurups kyrka) is a church in

Skurup Skurup is a locality and the seat of Skurup Municipality, Skåne County Skåne County ( sv, Skåne län, link=no ), sometimes referred to as Scania County in English, is the most southern county, or , of Sweden, basically corresponding to ...

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

, Sweden.

History and architecture

The oldest parts of Skurup Church are the

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

, the

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

and parts of the tower, built during the 12th century. A new tower was built in the 14th century, and during the same century the vaults of the chancel were constructed. In 1543 the church was enlarged towards the west, and in 1590 the church was expanded through the addition of a burial chapel for the owners of nearby

Svaneholm Castle Svaneholm Castle ( sv, Svaneholms slott) is located on the shore of Lake Svaneholmssjön in Skurup Municipality, Scania, Sweden. It has been used as a filming location including for the TV series ''Wallander''. History During the Middle Ages th ...

. The tower was rebuilt again in 1595. In 1817 the

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 ...

on the south side of the church was demolished. With the arrival of the railway to Skurup in the middle of the 19th century, the population grew and the church was subsequently enlarged. Two

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building with ...

s were built between 1856 and 1858, designed by

Carl Georg Brunius Carl Georg Brunius (23 March 1793 – 12 November 1869) was a classical scholar, art historian, archaeologist and architect. He served as a professor and rector at Lund University. During 1833-59, he led the restoration work of Lund Cathedra ...

. At the same time, large parts of 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 ...

were rebuilt. The church was renovated between 1950 and 1951, when medieval murals were also discovered under layers of

whitewash Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, 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 used. ...

and restored. The murals in the chancel date from the 1340s and depict scenes from the childhood of Christ. In the apse there are additional murals depicting

Christ in Majesty Christ in Majesty or Christ in Glory ( la, Maiestas Domini) is the Western Christian image of Christ seated on a throne as ruler of the world, always seen frontally in the centre of the composition, and often flanked by other sacred figures, who ...

and the twelve apostles and other saints. 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) ...

of the church dates from the 13th century. Both of the church bells are from 1595 and made in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. 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 ...

is from 1605 and decorated with

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 ...

s and sculptures depicting the evangelists and Moses. The burial chapel built for the owners of Svaneholm Castle contains the grave of politician and land reformer

Rutger Macklean Rutger Macklean (28 July 1742 – 14 January 1816) also Rutger Macklier II was a Swedish jurist, military officer, politician and land owner. He was a driving figure in the introduction of Swedish agricultural land reforms (''Enskiftet'') wh ...

References

External links

* {{Churches in Scania Churches in Skåne County Churches in the Diocese of Lund Church frescos in Sweden 12th-century churches in Sweden