Chapel door Vallsjö Gamla Kyrka - Vallsjö, Sävsjö Kommun, Jönköpings Län, Sweden
N 57° 23.588 E 014° 45.702
33V E 485676 N 6361173
The small door to the chapel in the southern wall of the old church in Sävsjö was also built in the twelfth century.
Waymark Code: WM16R2R
Location: Jönköping, Sweden
Date Posted: 09/21/2022
Views: 0
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 wooden chapel door itself is rather simple with its slanted wooden beams. It is also only about 50 cm wide and 1.5 m high. The stone door frame is set back a little, in the semicircular section above the door a tympanum was carved out of the stone, depicting a lion with a man's face, which is attacked and bitten in the throat by a predator, probably a wolf. These two figures are supposed to symbolize the fight of good against evil. The outer door frame is also made of stone blocks, originally decorated with carved biblical scenes. However, only two of the blocks on the left side of the door survived the centuries as they were made of a harder material, the remaining stones made of a softer material have unfortunately weathered.
References:
- sign at the church
- Vallsjö gamla kyrka, Swedish Wikipedia