Romanesque: Åre, Sweden Åre is a locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden. Åre Old Church (Swedish: Åre gamla kyrka) is a Romanesque church building situated in Åre, a parish within the Diocese of Härnösand and a locality in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden. Åre Old Church was built in the late 12th century entirely in stone, with inspiration from contemporary Norwegian church buildings, since Jämtland then was a part of Norway. It is situated at the Saint Olaf Pilgrims Route (Swedish: S:t Olofleden), and nowadays is the seventeenth stop on the route that goes from Selånger Old Church ruins at Sundsvall, situated at the Gulf of Bothnia, and crosses the Scandinavian Mountains via Stiklestad to the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway — and remains the only stone church in the Scandinavian Mountains from the Middle Ages. Other remaining medieval churches in the Scandinavian Mountains are stave churches situated in Norway. The original churchs interior dimensions were only a mere 5 metres (16 ft) by 11 metres (36 ft), with a choir of 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) by 2.5 metres. There were only three tiny windows, so it was quite a dark church. Preserved medieval artifacts in the church are two ship candlesticks, a processional cross and an unusual wooden statue of Saint Olaf. The St. Olaf statue does not show him as usual with an orb in his left hand and a war axe in his right wearing a crown, but only with an orb in his left hand wearing a tricorne uniform hat of the Caroleans. The wooden statue itself was dated as being from the 14th century, but it could be older. After centuries of warfare between Denmark–Norway and Sweden, the Second Treaty of Brömsebro made Jämtland a part of Sweden. In 1673 the church had a pulpit installed at the southern church wall according to Norwegian traditions. The baptismal font and gallery at the northern church wall also dates from the end of the 17th century. In 1736 the church was extended almost 12 metres (39 ft) to the west. The old choir was converted into a sacristy, and the new entrance of the church was placed to the west with a porch in stone. A mighty reredos was added over the new altar depicting the mourning Marys and the crucifixion of Christ in the centre. Higher windows were added as well as the current pews. The characteristical bell tower was erected during the 1750s. It belongs to a group of typical belltowers of the 18th century Jämtland with its onion-shaped cupola. Åre Old Church has 150 seats and is open all year, every day for twelve hours beginning 8 a.m. In 2008 an average of three services were held every week.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 05:04:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015