Bunge Church

The Church of Bunge ( Bunge kyrka Swedish ) is a country church on Gotland. It is located in the parish ( swedish församling ) Bunge at the northern end of the main island of Gotland, 49 km north-east of Visby and 2 km west of Fårösund. It belongs to the diocese of Visby.

Church building

Apart from the massive, fortress -like tower, the church is a unified, high Gothic building from the beginning of the 14th century. With Larbro it is the largest church in northern Gotland. However, the proud structure was lost when the roof was lowered at a restoration in the mid-19th century. The high and spacious nave is divided by slender columns, of which the front at the base figures of Christ, Mary, John the Baptist and wears a devil, in two parts. An unusually sculpted representation of the exhibition is located on the right console vault of the south wall.

In the Middle Ages, the church was a fortified church. The high churchyard wall with four medieval gates still contains loopholes. Finally, the church was restored in 1971 after plans by the architect Leif Olsson.

Interior

In the church there are murals of about 1400; on the north wall, a dispute between knights is shown. According to tradition, it is said to have once been a great battle in front of the building; an interpretation of the paintings is that there was this battle, which is shown, while others think that this is the martyrdom of the Theban Legion during the persecution of Christians under Emperor Decius.

Among the inventory items include a medieval poor-box of stone that bears the signature in runes: " Lafrans made ​​this stone." You probably once served as a pedestal for a crucifix. The organ was built in 1756 for the French Reformed Church in Stockholm by the then most advanced organ builder Jonas Gren & Peter frogs. She was purchased in 1870 by the municipality of Bunge and restored in 1952 by Olof Ryden in Stockholm. In another restoration, which was carried out in 1977 by Mads Kjersgaard from Uppsala, the original appearance was restored.

Environment

Next to the church are the ruins of a medieval vicarage " Munkhuset ", which was a tall and stately building with ornate portals and window openings. It was probably built in the 14th century during the construction of the choir and nave. Sculpted architectural details of the vicarage are kept in the open-air museum Bunge, which is a part of the site today.

Pictures

Buttresses on the south side