01. From timber to stone
It is the 11th century and Christianity is taking root in Sweden. The first churches are built of wood, but one by one they are replaced in stone. The models come from the south – Germany, England and Denmark – and with them comes the round arch, the style's clearest mark and the legacy of Roman building that gave the style its name.
The greatest of them all is Lund Cathedral, the most important Romanesque building in the Nordic countries. The crypt altar is consecrated in 1123 and the high altar in 1145. Most Romanesque churches, though, are far smaller. Out in the parishes, simple rectangular naves are built with a narrower chancel and sometimes a semicircular apse to the east. A heavy west tower could double as a refuge when trouble came.
Gotland, Skåne, Öland and Västergötland are where most survive. Gotland and Skåne also hold the best-preserved Romanesque wall paintings – and Sweden has kept more Romanesque wooden sculpture, crucifixes and Madonnas, than any other country.
02. How to spot it
- 1.Round arches over doors, windows and vaults
- 2.Thick, massive walls of fieldstone or limestone
- 3.Small, high-set windows – a dim interior
- 4.A narrower chancel, often with a semicircular apse to the east
- 5.A heavy, square west tower
- 6.Main entrance to the south-west and a priest's door to the south-east
03. The giveaway
The arch. If it is round over the portal and the windows, and the wall is as thick as a castle's, you are most likely looking at a 12th-century church.
Read the façade
- A round window in the gable
- Round arches
- Thick, solid walls
04. Architects and builders
- Donatus (Lunds domkyrka)
05. Where to see it
- Lund Cathedral, Lundcrypt consecrated 1123, high altar 1145
- The country churches of Gotlandthe densest group of medieval churches in the Nordic countries
- Hagby Church near Kalmarone of Sweden's few surviving round churches
- Husaby Church, Västergötlandwith its mighty west tower
06. Often confused with
Gothic. Look at the arches: Romanesque is round, Gothic is pointed. Gothic churches also have larger windows and vaults over the whole interior. Romanesque Revival. The 19th-century copy. If the brick is machine-made and the church was built after 1850, it is Romanesque Revival – see Historicism.
Sources
- Svenska kyrkan, Folkungabygdens församling: "Stilar och epoker"
- Swedish Wikipedia: "Romansk stil", "Lunds domkyrka"