The Säve Church (Swedish: ''Säve kyrka'') is a medieval church in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. It is located on the

Hisingen Hisingen () is the fifth-largest island of Sweden (after Gotland, Öland, Södertörn and Orust), with an area of . It is a river island, formed by the split of the Göta Älv at Bohus, and is defined to the east and south by the main arm of tha ...

island and belongs to the parish of Tuve-Säve. It belonged to the Säve parish until 2010, when the parishes of Tuve, Säve and Rödbo were merged. The church was erected in the early 13th century. It was first known as St. Olaf Church, after the saintly king

Olaf II of Norway Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title ''Rex Perpet ...

. 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-type ...

has 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 ...

, built in 1696. In 1704, the ceiling was covered with paintings by German artist Christian von Schönfeldt. In 1729, a cupola was built over the

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 ...

, painted by Johan Ross. The paintings depict scenes from both the New and the Old Testament. The

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

was built in 1746, and the wooden tower above it was erected in 1750. The choir got its

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window in 1902. In 1945, the brick roof of the nave was replaced with slate.

References

Churches in Gothenburg Churches in the Diocese of Gothenburg Churches converted from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church of Sweden 13th-century churches in Sweden Hisingen {{Sweden-church-stub