Vallsjö Gamla Kyrka - Vallsjö, Sävsjö Kommun, Jönköpings Län, Sweden - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

The old stone church "Vallsjö gamla kyrka" (Vallsjö old church) was built in the second half of the twelfth century in romanic style. As one of the so-called Njudung churches, it has no base. It was probably built by workers who had worked on the construction of Lund Cathedral, as the construction period and many similarities are almost the same - this can be seen particularly well on the tympanum above the southern chapel door. The church still has plastered stone facades and was originally built with a narrow west tower, chancel, apse and nave. A picture stone from the 13th century is again in the nave.

A wooden sacristy was also added to the northern part of the church in the 16th century, but it was destroyed by fire in the Swedish-Danish War of 1568. Unfortunately, the west tower did not survive the fire and was not rebuilt. Instead, an external bell tower was built. The pews and wooden pulpit, like the painted ceiling depicting the struggle between heaven and hell at the end of the world, were added in a contemporary style in the 18th century to hide the church's increasing decay. But the congregation grew and around 1850 the nearly 120 seats in the church were no longer sufficient. With numerous donations, a new church was built closer to the new city center, the bells were transferred from the tower to the new church and the old church was left to decay from 1891.

From 1910 the Church of Sweden and the congregation made efforts to preserve the old church. The intention to use the church again only came before the Second World War, were postponed until 1944. The restoration of the church lasted until 1951, partly because of the painted wooden ceilings, the Magnusson organ (built 1868) was restored in 1960, the exterior was painted in 1991 and parts of the 16th-century framework renewed in 2005.

Due to a lack of heating, the church is only used for church services at irregular intervals during the summer months. Also you may visit the church in summer, but opening times were not to be seen.

References:
- sign at the church
- VALLSJÖ GAMLA KYRKA, Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish Nationional Heritage Board)
- entry on Vallsjö gamla kyrka on svenskakyrkan.se
- Vallsjö gamla kyrka, Swedish Wikipedia

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