Uppsala Cathedral

The Gothic Cathedral of St Erik in the Swedish city of Uppsala is with 118.7 meters the tallest church building in Scandinavia. The cathedral is both coronation and burial site of many Swedish kings and the seat of a Lutheran archbishop.

Among the treasures of the Church is one, among other things, a gilded shrine from the late 16th century, in which the relics of Erik housed the sacred. In the northern tower now houses a museum of ecclesiastical textiles. At the southern portal stone statues are erected in the 14th century. The most famous of the people buried here are King Gustav I Vasa and the naturalist Carl Linnaeus.

History

After a fire in the cathedral church of Old Uppsala, the Pope gave permission to move the bishop's seat to its present location. The first plans for the new church building there was already 1258th

After laying the foundation stone of 1260, the construction was delayed several times due to wars, and disputes about the collapse of buildings. The plague prevented long a speedy construction. Only in 1435 the cathedral by Archbishop Olaus Laurentii was inaugurated.

The cathedral underwent several extensive renovations. For example, the devastating fire in 1702, both spiers were thrown down. The renovation lead architect, Carl Hårleman, was put on Baroque domes. In the 19th century, these domes were replaced under the direction of Heligoland Zettervall by the pointed towers that still are on the cathedral.

Equipment

The Finstachor

At the end of the 1980s was the cathedral of the Western Birgit Tasch a piece of the hip bone to St. Bridget. For a modern reliquary was created, which is in Finstachor. The design of the shrine was inspired by the clothing of the Birgittaordens. The five red dots symbolize the five wounds of Jesus Christ (hands, legs, and in the page). The choir also Birgitta's parents and her siblings are buried. Also, the shrine for the Holy Erik is here.

The Wasachor

The Wasachor lies at the eastern end of the cathedral and was dedicated in the Middle Ages to the Virgin Mary. In the crypt under the floor of Gustav Vasa and his three wives ( Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, Margareta Leijonhufvud and Catherine Stenbock ) are buried. His son John III. and his wife Catherine Jagiellonica have graves here. In the middle of the choir is a grave monument of 1583, are shown on the various national coat of arms and the arms of the Swedish and Finnish landscapes. It is the oldest known renditions of these coats of arms.

In the thirties of the 19th century Johan Gustaf Sandberg painted seven frescos with designs from Gustav Vasa life on the walls. Left and right of the grave monument is located below the images a text from the farewell speech Gustavus Vasa to the Reichstag on 16 June 1560th

Memorial to Dag Hammarskjöld

The memorial to Dag Hammarskjöld is located in the Peace Chapel in the right transept of the cathedral.

The inset in the floor memorial stone bears the inscription:

Icke jag

Utan gud i mig

Dag Hammarskjöld 1905-1961

(Translation: Not I, but God in me Dag Hammarskjöld 1905-1961. )

Organs

According to historical sources, the first organ was built in 1638. Today, the cathedral has three instruments: An organ in the gallery, which was built in 1871 by organ builder Per Larsson Åkerman. As Åkerman had worked for a while with Aristide Cavaillé- Coll, the instrument has a number of registers and features of the French organ builder of the 19th century. Despite some restorations and revisions of the French- romantic character remained largely intact. The choir organ was built in 1950 by the organ building company Marcussen & Son.

The largest instrument is on the stands in the north aisle. It is particularly used as an accompanying instrument for the Domchöre. The instrument can be controlled by two four -manual gaming tables from, one of which is located in the nave. The organ has 61 registers ( and 6 transmissions, of which 4 transmissions of the Trompette en chamade 8 'from the solo work in any other manual divisions and pedal work ), four manuals and pedal. The tracker action are electric.

Bells

The tontiefste peal of Sweden consists of five bells, the sound in the percussion sounds fis0, h0, d1, ek1 and ak1.