1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
3.
Christian denomination
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A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity, identified by traits such as a name, organisation, leadership and doctrine. Individual bodies, however, may use alternative terms to describe themselves, groups of denominations—often sharing broadly similar beliefs, practices, and historical ties—are sometimes known as branches of Christianity or denominational families. Individual Christian groups vary widely in the degree to which they recognize one another, several groups claim to be the direct and sole authentic successor of the church founded by Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD. Others, however, believe in denominationalism, where some or all Christian groups are legitimate churches of the same regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs. Because of this concept, some Christian bodies reject the term denomination to describe themselves, however, the Catholic Church does not view itself as a denomination, but as the original pre-denominational church. This view is rejected by other Christian denominations, Protestant denominations account for approximately 37 percent of Christians worldwide. Together, Catholicism and Protestantism comprise Western Christianity, Western Christian denominations prevail in Western, Northern, Central and Southern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas and Oceania. The Eastern Orthodox Church, with an estimated 225–300 million adherents, is the second-largest Christian organization in the world, unlike the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church is itself a communion of fully independent autocephalous churches that mutually recognize each other to the exclusion of others. The Eastern Orthodox Church, together with Oriental Orthodoxy and the Assyrian Church of the East, Eastern Christian denominations are represented mostly in Eastern Europe, North Asia, the Middle East and Northeast Africa. Christians have various doctrines about the Church and about how the church corresponds to Christian denominations. Both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox hold that their own organizations faithfully represent the One Holy catholic and Apostolic Church to the exclusion of the other, sixteenth-century Protestants separated from the Catholic Church because of theologies and practices that they considered to be in violation of their own interpretation. But some non-denominational Christians do not follow any particular branch, though regarded as Protestants. Each group uses different terminology to discuss their beliefs and this section will discuss the definitions of several terms used throughout the article, before discussing the beliefs themselves in detail in following sections. A denomination within Christianity can be defined as an autonomous branch of the Christian Church, major synonyms include religious group, sect, Church. Some traditional and evangelical Protestants draw a distinction between membership in the church and fellowship within the local church. Becoming a believer in Christ makes one a member of the universal church, a related concept is denominationalism, the belief that some or all Christian groups are legitimate churches of the same religion regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs, and practices. Protestant leaders differ greatly from the views of the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, each church makes mutually exclusive claims for itself to be the direct continuation of the Church founded by Jesus Christ, from whom other denominations later broke away. These churches, and a few others, reject denominationalism, Christianity can be taxonomically divided into five main groups, the Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism
4.
Church of Sweden
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The Church of Sweden is the largest Christian church in Sweden. A member of the Porvoo Communion, the Church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity and it is composed of thirteen dioceses, divided into parishes. It is a national church which, working with a democratic organisation and through the ministry of the church. The Primate of the Church of Sweden is the Archbishop of Uppsala — currently Antje Jackelén, today, the Church of Sweden is an Evangelical Lutheran church. 6.2 million people are members of the Church of Sweden and it is liturgically and theologically high church, having retained priests, vestments, and the Mass during the Swedish Reformation. In common with other Evangelical Lutheran churches, the Church of Sweden maintains the historical episcopate, the Church of Sweden is known for its liberal position in theological issues, particularly the question of homosexuality. When Bishop Eva Brunne was consecrated as Bishop of Stockholm in 2009, despite a significant yearly loss of members, its membership of 6,225,091 people accounts for 63. 2% of the Swedish population. Until 2000 it held the position of state church, the high membership numbers are because until 1996 all newborn children were made members, unless their parents had actively cancelled their membership. Approximately 2% of the members regularly attend Sunday services. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2009, 17% of the Swedish population considered religion as an important part of their daily life, King Gustav I Vasa instigated the Church of Sweden in 1536 during his reign as King of Sweden. This act separated the church from the Roman Catholic Church and its canon law, in 1571, the Swedish Church Ordinance became the first Swedish church order following the Reformation. The Church of Sweden became Lutheran at the Uppsala Synod in 1593 when it adopted the Augsburg Confession to which most Lutherans adhere, at this synod, it was decided that the church would retain the three original Christian creeds, the Apostles, the Athanasian, and the Nicene. In 1686, the Riksdag of the Estates adopted the Book of Concord, although certain parts, labelled Confessio fidei, were considered binding. Confessio dei included the three aforementioned Creeds, the Augsburg Confession and two Uppsala Synod decisions from 1572 and 1593, during the 20th century the Church of Sweden oriented itself strongly towards liberal Christianity and human rights. In 1957, the assembly rejected a proposal for ordination of women. Since 1960, women have been ordained as priests, and since 1994, a proposal to perform same-sex weddings was approved on October 22,2009 by 176 of 249 voting members of the Church of Sweden Synod. The Christian church in Scandinavia was originally governed by the archdiocese of Bremen, in 1104 an archbishop for all Scandinavia was installed in Lund. Uppsala was made Swedens archdiocese in 1164, and remains so today, the papal diplomat William of Modena attended a church meeting in Skänninge in March 1248, where the ties to the Catholic Church were strengthened
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Diocese
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The word diocese is derived from the Greek term διοίκησις meaning administration. When now used in a sense, it refers to a territorial unit of administration. This structure of governance is known as episcopal polity. The word diocesan means relating or pertaining to a diocese and it can also be used as a noun meaning the bishop who has the principal supervision of a diocese. An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese, an archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or have had importance due to size or historical significance. The archbishop may have authority over any other suffragan bishops. In the Latter Day Saint movement, the bishopric is used to describe the bishop himself. Especially in the Middle Ages, some bishops held political as well as religious authority within their dioceses, in the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the diocese. With the adoption of Christianity as the Empires official religion in the 4th century, a formal church hierarchy was set up, parallel to the civil administration, whose areas of responsibility often coincided. With the collapse of the Western Empire in the 5th century, a similar, though less pronounced, development occurred in the East, where the Roman administrative apparatus was largely retained by the Byzantine Empire. In modern times, many dioceses, though later subdivided, have preserved the boundaries of a long-vanished Roman administrative division, modern usage of diocese tends to refer to the sphere of a bishops jurisdiction. As of January 2015, in the Catholic Church there are 2,851 regular dioceses,1 papal see,641 archdioceses and 2,209 dioceses in the world, in the Eastern rites in communion with the Pope, the equivalent unit is called an eparchy. Eastern Orthodoxy calls dioceses metropoleis in the Greek tradition or eparchies in the Slavic tradition, after the Reformation, the Church of England retained the existing diocesan structure which remains throughout the Anglican Communion. The one change is that the areas administered under the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of York are properly referred to as provinces and this usage is relatively common in the Anglican Communion. Certain Lutheran denominations such as the Church of Sweden do have individual dioceses similar to Roman Catholics and these dioceses and archdioceses are under the government of a bishop. Other Lutheran bodies and synods that have dioceses and bishops include the Church of Denmark, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the Evangelical Church in Germany, rather, it is divided into a middle judicatory. The Lutheran Church-International, based in Springfield, Illinois, presently uses a traditional diocesan structure and its current president is Archbishop Robert W. Hotes. The Church of God in Christ has dioceses throughout the United States, in the COGIC, each state is divided up into at least three dioceses that are all led by a bishop, but some states as many as seven dioceses
6.
Swedish language
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Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken natively by more than 9 million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is currently the largest of the North Germanic languages by number of speakers, Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from the rural dialects still exist. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages, V2, Swedish morphology is similar to English, that is, words have comparatively few inflections. There are two genders, no cases, and a distinction between plural and singular. Older analyses posit the cases nominative and genitive and there are remains of distinct accusative and dative forms as well. Adjectives are compared as in English, and are inflected according to gender, number. The definiteness of nouns is marked primarily through suffixes, complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles, the prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless velar fricative, a highly variable consonant phoneme. Swedish is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, by many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. In the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language began to undergo new changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, the dialects of Old East Norse that were spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish while the dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish. The dialects are described as runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, from 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain, there was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr dead
7.
Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
8.
Gotland
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Gotland, Gutland in the local dialect Gutnish, is a province, county, municipality, and diocese of Sweden. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the north. The population is 57,221, of which about 23,600 live in Visby, the island of Gotland and the other areas of the province of Gotland make up less than one percent of Swedens total land area. From a military viewpoint, it occupies a location in the Baltic sea. The island is the home of the Gutes, and sites such as the Ajvide Settlement show that it has occupied since prehistory. This is consistent with the spread of peoples from the Middle East at about that time. Early on, Gotland became a center, with the town of Visby the most important Hanseatic city in the Baltic Sea. In late medieval times, the island had twenty district courts, each represented by its elected judge at the island-ting, new laws were decided at the landsting, which also took other decisions regarding the island as a whole. Gutasaga contains legends of how the island was settled by Þieluar, according to some historians, it is therefore an effort not only to write down the history of Gotland, but also to assert Gotlands independence from Sweden. In 1361, Valdemar Atterdag of Denmark invaded the island, the Victual Brothers occupied the island in 1394 to set up a stronghold as a headquarters of their own in Visby. At last, Gotland became a fief of the Teutonic Knights, an invading army of Teutonic Knights conquered the island in 1398, destroying Visby and driving the Victual Brothers from Gotland. The number of Arab dirhams discovered on the island of Gotland alone is astoundingly high, in the various hoards located around the island, there are more of these silver coins than at any other site in Western Eurasia. The total sum is almost as great as the number that has been unearthed in the entire Muslim world, the Berezan Runestone, discovered in 1905 in Ukraine, was made by a Varangian trader named Grani in memory of his business partner Karl. It is assumed that they were from Gotland, the Mästermyr chest, an important artefact from the Viking Age, was found in Gotland. The authority of the landsting was successively eroded after the island was occupied by the Teutonic Order, then sold to Eric of Pomerania, in late medieval times, the ting consisted of twelve representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants. Since the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, the island has remained under Swedish rule, the Order never regained its territory, and eventually it reestablished itself in Rome as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. On 22 April 1808, during the Finnish War between Sweden and Russia, a Russian army landed on the shores of Gotland near Grötlingbo. Under command of Nikolaus Andrejevich Bodisco 1,800 Russians took the city of Visby without any combat or engagement, and occupied the island
9.
Stave church
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A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the structure of post and lintel construction. Two related church building also named for their structural elements. Originally much more widespread, most of the stave churches are in Norway. Similar palisade constructions are known from buildings from the Viking Age, logs were split in two halves, set or rammed into the earth and given a roof. This proved a simple but very strong form of construction, if set in gravel, the wall could last many decades, even centuries. An archaeological excavation in Lund uncovered the postholes of several such churches, in post churches, the walls were supported by sills, leaving only the posts earth-bound. Such churches are easy to spot at archaeological sites as they leave very distinct holes where the posts were once placed, occasionally some of the wood remains, making it possible to date the church more accurately using radiocarbon dating and/or with dendrochronology. Under the Urnes stave church, remains have been found of two churches, with Christian graves discovered beneath the oldest church structure. A single church of palisade construction has been discovered under the Hemse stave church, the next design phase resulted from the observation that earthbound posts were susceptible to humidity, causing them to rot away over time. To prevent this, the posts were placed on top of large stones, the stave church in Røldal is believed to be of this type. In still later churches, the posts were set on a raised sill frame resting on stone foundations and this is the stave church in its most mature form. Those with the roof, Type B, are often further divided into two subgroups. The first of these, the Kaupanger group, have a whole row of posts and intermediate posts along the sides. These churches give an impression of a basilica, the other subgroup is the Borgund group. In these churches the post are connected halfway up one or two horizontal double ″pincer beams″ with semicircular indentations, clasping the row of posts from both sides. Cross-braces are inserted between the posts and the upper and lower beams, forming a very rigid interconnection. This design made it possible to omit the lower part of intermediate posts
10.
Viking Age
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The Viking Age is the period from the late 8th century to the mid-11th century in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, following the Germanic Iron Age. It is the period of history when Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonisation and conquest. Three Viking ships had beached in Weymouth Bay four years earlier, the Viking devastation of Northumbrias Holy Island was reported by the Northumbrian scholar Alcuin of York, who wrote, Never before in Britain has such a terror appeared. Vikings were portrayed as violent and bloodthirsty by their enemies. The chronicles of medieval England portrayed them as rapacious wolves among sheep, the first challenges to the many anti-Viking images in Britain emerged in the 17th century. Pioneering scholarly works on the Viking Age reached a readership in Britain. Archaeologists began to dig up Britains Viking past, linguistics traced the Viking-Age origins of rural idioms and proverbs. New dictionaries of the Old Norse language enabled more Victorians to read the Icelandic Sagas, the Vikings who invaded western and eastern Europe were chiefly pagans from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. They also settled in the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Iceland, peripheral Scotland, Greenland and their North Germanic language, Old Norse, became the mother-tongue of present-day Scandinavian languages. By 801, a central authority appears to have been established in Jutland. In Norway, mountainous terrain and fjords formed strong natural boundaries, communities there remained independent of each other, unlike the situation in Denmark which is lowland. By 800, some 30 small kingdoms existed in Norway, the sea was the easiest way of communication between the Norwegian kingdoms and the outside world. It was in the 8th century that Scandinavians began to build ships of war, the North Sea rovers were traders, colonisers and explorers as well as plunderers. There are various theories concerning the causes of the Viking invasions, for people living along the coast, it would seem natural to seek new land by the sea. Another reason was that during this period England, Wales and Ireland, the Franks, however, had well-defended coasts and heavily fortified ports and harbours. Pure thirst for adventure may also have been a factor, a reason for the raids is believed by some to be over-population caused by technological advances, such as the use of iron, or a shortage of women due to selective female infanticide. Although another cause could well have been caused by the Frankish expansion to the south of Scandinavia. Consequently, these Vikings became raiders, in search of subsistence, There is ongoing debate among scholars as to why the Scandinavians began to expand during the 8th through 11th centuries
11.
Picture stone
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A picture stone, image stone or figure stone is an ornate slab of stone, usually limestone, which was raised in Germanic Iron Age or Viking Age Scandinavia, and in the greatest number on Gotland. More than four hundred picture stones are known today, all of the stones were probably erected as memorial stones, but only rarely beside graves. Some of them have been positioned where many people could see them at bridges and they mainly differ from runestones by presenting the message in pictures rather than runes. Some picture stones also have inscriptions, but they tell little more than to whom the stone was dedicated. Lacking textual explanations, the stones are consequently difficult to interpret. Similar stones in Scotland are known as Pictish stones, the dating of the stones is based on studies of their shapes and ornamentations. Subsequently, three groups of stones exist with various aesthetics, locations and purposes. The first group of stones was made in the period 400–600 CE. These have a form and the upper part is shaped like the edge of an axe. The ornamentations are usually circular forms with vortex patterns and spirals, but also with images of ships, people and these older stones were usually raised within grave fields, albeit not on the graves themselves. The second group of stones come from the period 500–700 CE. The third group was made in the period 700–1100 CE and they consist of stones with necks. Their ornamentations present an array of pictures, ships with checkered sails. The borders are decorated with various plaited patterns. Many scenes show sacrifices and battles, and a scene on the stones is a man, riding a horse. What is seen are representations of a wealth of legends and myths, sometimes depictions from Norse mythology and Norse legends can be identified, but largely the stories behind them have not survived in written form. The image stones are valuable sources which complete knowledge from archaeology concerning ships and sails, and they provide information on armor, wagons, the later stones in this group feature an upper field with stylized cross and dragon patterns in the style of some runestones. These stones usually were raised on roads and at bridges to be visible, a comparable tradition is found on the Isle of Man where high funeral crosses of stone were richly ornamented with the same teeming world of warriors and Norse deities as the image stones of Gotland
12.
Nave
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The nave /ˈneɪv/ is the central aisle of a basilica church, or the main body of a church between its western wall and its chancel. It is the zone of a church accessible by the laity, the nave extends from the entry — which may have a separate vestibule — to the chancel and may be flanked by lower side-aisles separated from the nave by an arcade. If the aisles are high and of a width comparable to the central nave and it provides the central approach to the high altar. The term nave is from medieval Latin navis, a ship was an early Christian symbol. The term may also have suggested by the keel shape of the vaulting of a church. The earliest churches were built when builders were familiar with the form of the Roman basilica and it had a wide central area, with aisles separated by columns, and with windows near the ceiling. Old St. Peters Basilica in Rome is a church which had this form. It was built in the 4th century on the orders of Roman emperor Constantine I, the nave, the main body of the building, is the section set apart for the laity, while the chancel is reserved for the clergy. In medieval churches the nave was separated from the chancel by the rood screen, medieval naves were divided into bays, the repetition of form giving an effect of great length, and the vertical element of the nave was emphasized. During the Renaissance, in place of dramatic effects there were more balanced proportions, longest nave in Denmark, Aarhus Cathedral,93 metres. Longest nave in England, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans,84 metres, longest nave in Ireland, St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin,91 metres. Longest nave in France, Bourges Cathedral,91 metres, including choir where a crossing would be if there were transepts, longest nave in Germany, Cologne cathedral,58 metres, including two bays between the towers. Longest nave in Italy, St Peters Basilica in Rome,91 metres, longest nave in Spain, Seville,60 metres, in five bays. Longest nave in the United States, Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City, highest vaulted nave, Beauvais Cathedral, France,48 metres high but only one bay of the nave was actually built but choir and transepts were completed to the same height. Highest completed nave, Rome, St. Peters, Italy,46 metres high, abbey, with architectural discussion and groundplans Cathedral architecture Cathedral diagram List of highest church naves
13.
Choir (architecture)
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A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tabernacle. In larger medieval churches it contained choir-stalls, seating aligned with the side of the church, in modern churches, the choir may be located centrally behind the altar, or the pulpit. The back-choir or retro-choir is a space behind the altar in the choir of a church. In the Early Church, the sanctuary was connected directly to the nave, the choir was simply the east part of the nave, and was fenced off by a screen or low railing, called cancelli, which is where the English word chancel comes from. The word choir is first used by members of the Latin Church, isidore of Seville and Honorius of Autun write that the term is derived from the corona, the circle of clergy or singers who surrounded the altar. When first introduced, the choir was attached to the bema, the platform in the center of the nave on which were placed seats for the higher clergy. This arrangement can still be observed at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, over time, the bema and choir moved eastward to their current position. In some churches the choir is arranged in the apse behind the altar, the architectural details of the choir developed in response to its function as the place where the Divine Office was chanted by the monastic brotherhood or the chapter of canons. The chancel was regarded as the part of the church. The pulpit and lectern are also found at the front of the choir. The organ may be located here, or in a loft elsewhere in the church, some cathedrals have a retro-choir behind the High Altar, opening eastward towards the chapels in the eastern extremity. After the Reformation Protestant churches generally moved the forward, typically to the front of the chancel. The choir and rear of deep chancels became little used in churches surviving from the Middle Ages, with the emphasis on sermons, and their audibility, some churches simply converted their chancels to seat part of the congregation. The choir area is occupied by sometimes finely carved and decorated wooden seats known as choir stalls, the choir may be furnished either with long benches or individual choir stalls. There may be several rows of seating running parallel to the walls of the church, the use of choir stalls is more traditional in monasteries and collegiate churches. Monastic choir stalls are often fitted with seats that fold up when the monastics stand, often the hinged seat will have a misericord on the underside on which he can lean while standing during the long services. The upper part of the stall is so shaped as to provide a headrest while sitting
14.
Romanesque architecture
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Romanesque Architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the late 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style, marked by pointed arches, examples of Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman Architecture. The Romanesque style in England is traditionally referred to as Norman architecture, each building has clearly defined forms, frequently of very regular, symmetrical plan, the overall appearance is one of simplicity when compared with the Gothic buildings that were to follow. The style can be identified right across Europe, despite regional characteristics, Many castles were built during this period, but they are greatly outnumbered by churches. The most significant are the great churches, many of which are still standing, more or less complete. The largest groups of Romanesque survivors are in areas that were less prosperous in subsequent periods, including parts of southern France, northern Spain and rural Italy. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Romanesque means descended from Roman and was first used in English to designate what are now called Romance languages, Romance language is not degenerated Latin language. Latin language is degenerated Romance language, Romanesque architecture is not debased Roman architecture. Roman architecture is debased Romanesque architecture, the first use in a published work is in William Gunns An Inquiry into the Origin and Influence of Gothic Architecture. The term is now used for the more restricted period from the late 10th to 12th centuries, Many castles exist, the foundations of which date from the Romanesque period. Most have been altered, and many are in ruins. By far the greatest number of surviving Romanesque buildings are churches, the scope of Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since the Roman Empire. In the more northern countries Roman building styles and techniques had never been adopted except for official buildings, although the round arch continued in use, the engineering skills required to vault large spaces and build large domes were lost. There was a loss of continuity, particularly apparent in the decline of the formal vocabulary of the Classical Orders. In Rome several great Constantinian basilicas continued in use as an inspiration to later builders, the largest building is the church, the plan of which is distinctly Germanic, having an apse at both ends, an arrangement not generally seen elsewhere. Another feature of the church is its regular proportion, the plan of the crossing tower providing a module for the rest of the plan. These features can both be seen at the Proto-Romanesque St. Michaels Church, Hildesheim, 1001–1030, the style, sometimes called First Romanesque or Lombard Romanesque, is characterised by thick walls, lack of sculpture and the presence of rhythmic ornamental arches known as a Lombard band
15.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
16.
Church frescos in Sweden
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Church frescos or church wall paintings are decorative paintings, mostly medieval, found in several Swedish churches where they adorn the vaults and sometimes walls of the buildings. Paintings survive in both wooden and stone churches, today, the rich heritage of church frescos in Sweden has been described as a unique treasure. While some have been covered with whitewash during later centuries and laboriously uncovered and restored, the oldest church frescos in Sweden date from the early 12th century, few of these have survived. The artists who painted these frescos probably came from present-day Denmark, the first frescos were in Romanesque style, with Gothic influences arriving circa 1250. Most of the oldest church frescos in Sweden are found in the south of the country, of early and high Gothic frescos, frescos from circa 1250-1300 are preserved mainly in Scania and on Gotland. Late Gothic frescos are represented mainly in Östergötland, Scania and Uppland, rather little is known about who the so-called masters or artists who executed the decorative paintings were. At least during the medieval period, some artists seem to have been based in cities. Known examples include those based in Stockholm, Linköping and Arboga, in other cases the names of artists are known from documents in city archives, but it is not certain which churches they decorated. Still, a few artists with attributable works are known by name, some signed their work, with runes or letters. During the later Middle Ages, the painters often dated their work, most of the signed work dates from the 15th century. Identifiable artists who have signed their work in this period include Johannes Iwan, Andreas Eriksson, Erik Östensson, Nils Håkansson, Albertus Pictor, list of church frescos in Sweden Church frescos in Denmark
17.
Russians
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Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in Ukraine, Kazakhstan. A large Russian diaspora exists all over the world, with numbers in the United States, Germany, Israel. Russians are the most numerous group in Europe. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion, the Russian language is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and also spoken as a secondary language in many former Soviet states. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians. One is русские, which most often means ethnic Russians, another is россияне, which means citizens of Russia. The former word refers to ethnic Russians, regardless of what country they live in, under certain circumstances this term may or may not extend to denote members of other Russian-speaking ethnic groups from Russia, or from the former Soviet Union. The latter word refers to all people holding citizenship of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups. The name of the Russians derives from the Rus people, the name Rus would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi. According to other theories the name Rus is derived from Proto-Slavic *roud-s-ь, the modern Russians formed from two groups of East Slavic tribes, Northern and Southern. The tribes involved included the Krivichs, Ilmen Slavs, Radimichs, Vyatiches, genetic studies show that modern Russians do not differ significantly from Belarusians and Ukrainians. Some ethnographers, like Zelenin, affirm that Russians are more similar to Belarusians, such Uralic peoples included the Merya and the Muromians. Outside archaeological remains, little is known about the predecessors to Russians in general prior to 859 AD when the Primary Chronicle starts its records and it is thought that by 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, and eastern branches. Later, both Belarusians and South Russians formed on this ethnic linguistic ground, the same Slavic ethnic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. With the Uralic substratum, they formed the tribes of the Krivichs, in 2010, the worlds Russian population was 129 million people of which 86% were in Russia,11. 5% in the CIS and Baltic countries, with a further 2. 5% living in other countries. Roughly 111 million ethnic Russians live in Russia, 80% of whom live in the European part of Russia, ethnic Russians historically migrated throughout the area of former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, sometimes encouraged to re-settle in borderlands by the Tsarist and later Soviet government. On some occasions ethnic Russian communities, such as Lipovans who settled in the Danube delta or Doukhobors in Canada, after the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War starting in 1917, many Russians were forced to leave their homeland fleeing the Bolshevik regime, and millions became refugees
18.
Staraja Ladoga
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It used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries. A multi-ethnic settlement, it was dominated by Scandinavians who were called by the name of Rus, for that reason, it is sometimes called the first capital of Russia, though back then Russia didnt exist for many centuries to come. Dendrochronology suggests that Ladoga was founded in 753, until 950, it was one of the most important trading ports of Eastern Europe. Merchant vessels sailed from the Baltic Sea through Ladoga to Novgorod and this route is known as the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. An alternative way led down the Volga River along the Volga trade route to the Khazar capital of Atil, tellingly, the oldest Arabian Middle Age coin in Europe was unearthed in Ladoga. The original inhabitants of the settlement were Norsemen, the original Finnish name, Alode-joki, was rendered as Aldeigja in Norse language and later as Ladoga in Old East Slavic. According to the Hypatian Codex that was created at the end of 13th century, Ruriks successors later moved to Novgorod and then to Kiev where foundations for the powerful state of Kievan Rus were laid. There are several huge kurgans, or royal funerary barrows, at the outskirts of Ladoga, one of them is said to be Ruriks grave, and another one—that of his successor Oleg. The Heimskringla and other Norse sources mention that in the late 990s Eric Haakonsson of Norway raided the coast and set the town ablaze. Ladoga was the most important trading center in Eastern Europe from about 800 to 900 CE, Ladogas next mention in chronicles is dated 1019, when Ingigerd of Sweden married Yaroslav of Novgorod. Under the terms of their settlement, Yaroslav ceded Ladoga to his wife, who appointed her fathers cousin. This information is confirmed by sagas and archaeological evidence, which suggests that Ladoga gradually evolved into a primarily Varangian settlement, at least two Swedish kings spent their youths in Ladoga, king Stenkil and Inge I, and possibly also king Anund Gårdske. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Ladoga functioned as a trade outpost of the powerful Novgorod Republic, later its trade significance declined and most of the population engaged in fishing in the 15th century. After new fortresses such as Oreshek and Korela were constructed in the 14th century further to the west of Ladoga, Ladoga belonged to the Vodskaya pyatina of the Republic and contained eighty-four homesteads in the 15th century, most of the land belonged to the church. The Novgorodians built there a citadel with five towers and several churches, the reconstruction of one of the towers of Staraya Ladogas fortress was scheduled to be completed in 2010. The fortress was rebuilt at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, while the churches of St. George. Inside St. Georges, some magnificent 12th-century frescoes are still visible, in 1703, Peter the Great founded the town of Novaya Ladoga closer to the bank of Lake Ladoga. The ancient fortress thenceforth declined and came to be known as Staraya Ladoga, the heart of Staraya Ladoga is an old fortress where the Yelena River flows into the Volkhov
19.
Byzantine art
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Byzantine art is the name for the artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. A number of states contemporary with the Byzantine Empire were culturally influenced by it, after the fall of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople in 1453, art produced by Eastern Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman Empire was often called post-Byzantine. Byzantine art never lost sight of this classical heritage, the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, was adorned with a large number of classical sculptures, although they eventually became an object of some puzzlement for its inhabitants. And indeed, the art produced during the Byzantine Empire, although marked by periodic revivals of an aesthetic, was above all marked by the development of a new aesthetic. The most salient feature of new aesthetic was its abstract. The nature and causes of this transformation, which took place during late antiquity, have been a subject of scholarly debate for centuries. Giorgio Vasari attributed it to a decline in skills and standards. Although this point of view has been revived, most notably by Bernard Berenson. Alois Riegl and Josef Strzygowski, writing in the early 20th century, were all responsible for the revaluation of late antique art. Riegl saw it as a development of pre-existing tendencies in Roman art. In any case, the debate is purely modern, it is clear that most Byzantine viewers did not consider their art to be abstract or unnaturalistic, religious art was not, however, limited to the monumental decoration of church interiors. One of the most important genres of Byzantine art was the icon, an image of Christ, the illumination of manuscripts was another major genre of Byzantine art. The most commonly illustrated texts were religious, both scripture itself and devotional or theological texts, secular texts were also illuminated, important examples include the Alexander Romance and the history of John Skylitzes. Small ivories were also mostly in relief, Byzantine ceramics were relatively crude, as pottery was never used at the tables of the rich, who ate off silver. Two events were of importance to the development of a unique. First, the Edict of Milan, issued by the emperors Constantine I and Licinius in 313, allowed for public Christian worship, second, the dedication of Constantinople in 330 created a great new artistic centre for the eastern half of the Empire, and a specifically Christian one. Major Constantinopolitan churches built under Constantine and his son, Constantius II, included the foundations of Hagia Sophia. The next major building campaign in Constantinople was sponsored by Theodosius I, the most important surviving monument of this period is the obelisk and base erected by Theodosius in the Hippodrome
20.
Baptismal font
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A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using an immersion method, the simplest of these fonts has a pedestal with a holder for a basin of water. The materials vary greatly consisting of carved and sculpted marble, wood, many are eight-sided as a reminder of the new creation and as a connection to the practice of circumcision, which traditionally occurs on the eighth day. Some are three-sided as a reminder of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, in many churches of the Middle Ages and Renaissance there was a special chapel or even a separate building for housing the baptismal fonts, called a baptistery. Both fonts and baptisterys were often octagonal, saint Ambrose wrote that fonts and baptistries were octagonal because on the eighth day, by rising, Christ loosens the bondage of death and receives the dead from their graves. Saint Augustine similarly described the day as everlasting. Hallowed by the resurrection of Christ, the quantity of water is usually small. There are some fonts where water pumps, a natural spring and this visual and audible image communicates a living waters aspect of baptism. Some church bodies use special holy water while others use water straight out of the tap to fill the font. A special silver vessel called a ewer can be used to fill the font, the mode of a baptism at a font is usually one of sprinkling, pouring, washing, or dipping in keeping with the Koine Greek verb βαπτιζω. Βαπτιζω can also mean immerse, but most fonts are too small for that application, some fonts are large enough to allow the immersion of infants, however. The earliest baptismal fonts were designed for full immersion, and were often cross-shaped with steps leading down into them, often such baptismal pools were located in a separate building, called a baptistery, near the entrance of the church. As infant baptism became common, fonts became smaller. Full-immersion baptisms may take place in a tank or pool. The entire body is immersed, dunked, submerged or otherwise placed completely under the water. This practice symbolizes the death of the old nature, as found in Romans 6, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, baptism is always by full triple immersion, even in the case of infant baptism. For this reason, Eastern baptismal fonts tend to be larger than Western, and are shaped like a large chalice. During the baptismal service, three candles will be lit on or around the font, in honor of the Holy Trinity
21.
Byzantios
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Byzantios was a Romanesque stone sculptor, working on Gotland in present-day Sweden. What little that is known about the master sculptor called Byzantios is all knowledge inferred from his works, Byzantios was possibly from, or at the very least received his training in, north-eastern Italy. It was probably in that environment he acquired and developed his artistic style, such influenced were strong in north-eastern Italian art at the time. He most probably worked on the site of either Lund Cathedral or the Holy Cross Priory, Dalby. Other sources speculate that he may have received his training in Novgorod, eventually he moved to Gotland and was active there as a sculptor of baptismal fonts and architectural details on church building sites at a time when church building was very active on the island. Eleven baptismal fonts has been ascribed to him or his workshop, all are located on Gotland, notable examples can be found in Atlingbo, Garde, Vamlingbo, Mästerby and Källunge churches. A frieze at Vänge church is attributed to Byzantios. Byzantios was the first of a series of sculptors working on Gotland during the Romanesque period of Scandinavian art history. Several others would follow in his footsteps, e. g. Majestatis, Hegvald. His style is easily recognisable in comparison, the basins of his fonts are always octagonal, and his imagery is clearly influenced by Byzantine art in a rather unusual way, e. g. through his treatment of the subject of the Annunciation. Here he depicts Mary spinning yarn for the veil at the temple, in addition, animals and legendary creatures are also popular subjects. Byzantios was furthermore the first artist in the Nordic countries who portrayed human beings in a correct anatomical way. The pictures on either of the eight sides of the fonts seems to have been executed without any particular connection, two of the fonts attributed to him, at Garde and Hejde churches, retain traces of original paint. Calcarius Hegvald Majestatis Sigraf Media related to Byzantios at Wikimedia Commons
22.
Rood
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A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large Crucifixion set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a sculpture or painting of the crucifixion of Jesus. Rood is a word for pole, from Old English rōd pole, specifically cross, from Proto-Germanic *rodo, cognate to Old Saxon rōda. Rood was originally the only Old English word for the instrument of Jesus Christs death, the words crúc and in the North cros appeared by late Old English, crucifix is first recorded in English in the Ancrene Wisse of about 1225. More precisely, the Rood was the True Cross, the wooden cross used in Christs crucifixion. The word remains in use in names, such as Holyrood Palace. The phrase by the rood was used in swearing, e. g. No, by the rood, the alternative term triumphal cross, which is more usual in Europe, signifies the triumph that the resurrected Jesus Christ won over death. In church architecture the rood, or rood cross, is a life-sized crucifix displayed on the axis of a church. The earliest roods hung from the top of the arch, or rested on a plain rood beam across it. This original arrangement is found in many churches in Germany and Scandinavia. If the choir is separated from the interior by a rood screen, the rood cross is placed on, or more rarely in front of. Under the rood is usually the altar of the Holy Cross, numerous near life-size crucifixes survive from the Romanesque period or earlier, with the Gero Cross in Cologne Cathedral and the Volto Santo of Lucca the best known. Many figures in precious metal are recorded in Anglo-Saxon monastic records, notables sometimes gave their crowns, necklaces, or swords to decorate them. As in later examples the Virgin and Saint John often flank the cross, a gilt rood in the 10th-century Mainz Cathedral was only placed on a beam on special feast days. In the Romanesque era the crucified Christ was presented as ruler, instead of a crown of thorns he wears a crown or a halo, on his feet he wears shoes as a sign of the ruler. His feet are parallel to other on the wooden support. The perizoma is highly stylized and falls in vertical folds, in the transition to the Gothic style, the triumphant Christ becomes suffering Christ, the pitiful Man of Sorrows. Instead of the crown, he wears the crown of thorns
23.
Altarpiece
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An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing behind the altar of a Christian church. Altarpieces were one of the most important products of Christian art especially from the late Middle Ages to the era of the Counter-Reformation. Large number of altarpieces are now removed from their settings, and often their elaborate sculpted frameworks. Altarpieces seem to have begun to be used during the 11th century, the reasons and forces that led to the development of altarpieces are not generally agreed upon. The habit of placing decorated reliquaries of saints on or behind the altar, as well as the tradition of decorating the front of the altar with sculptures or textiles, an elaborate example of such an early altarpiece is the Pala dOro in Venice. The appearance and development of these first altarpieces marked an important turning point both in the history of Christian art and Christian religious practice, the autonomous image now assumed a legitimate position at the centre of Christian worship. Painted panel altars emerged in Italy during the 13th century, in the 13th century, it is not uncommon to find frescoed or mural altarpieces in Italy, mural paintings behind the altar function as visual complements for the liturgy. These altarpieces were influenced by Byzantine art, notably icons, which reached Western Europe in greater numbers following the conquest of Constantinople in 1204. During this time, altarpieces began to be decorated with an outer. Vigoroso da Sienas altarpiece from 1291 display such an altarpiece and this treatment of the altarpiece would eventually pave the way for the emergence, in the 14th century, of the polyptych. The sculpted elements in the emerging polyptychs often took inspiration from contemporary Gothic architecture, in Italy, they were still typically executed in wood and painted, while in northern Europe altarpieces were often made of stone. The early 14th century saw the emergence, in Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the Baltic region, by hinging the outer panels to the central panel and painting them on both sides, the motif could be regulated by opening or closing the wings. The pictures could thus be changed depending on liturgical demands, the earliest often displayed sculptures on the inner panels, i. e. displayed when open, and paintings on the back of the wings, displayed when closed. With the advent of winged altarpieces, a shift in imagery also occurred, instead of being centred on a single holy figure, altarpieces began to portray more complex narratives linked to the Christian concept of salvation. As the Middle Ages progressed, altarpieces began to be commissioned more frequently, in Northern Europe, initially Lübeck and later Antwerp would develop into veritable export centres for the production of altarpieces, exporting to Scandinavia, Spain and northern France. By the 15th century, altarpieces were often commissioned not only by churches but also by individuals, families, guilds, the 15th century saw the birth of Early Netherlandish painting in the Low Countries, henceforth panel painting would dominate altarpiece production in the area. In Germany, sculpted wooden altarpieces were instead generally preferred, while in England alabaster was used to a large extent, in England, as well as in France, stone retables enjoyed general popularity. In Italy both stone retables and wooden polyptychs were common, with painted panels and often with complex framing in the form of architectural compositions
24.
Baroque
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The style began around 1600 in Rome and Italy, and spread to most of Europe. The aristocracy viewed the dramatic style of Baroque art and architecture as a means of impressing visitors by projecting triumph, power, Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases, and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. However, baroque has a resonance and application that extend beyond a reduction to either a style or period. It is also yields the Italian barocco and modern Spanish barroco, German Barock, Dutch Barok, others derive it from the mnemonic term Baroco, a supposedly laboured form of syllogism in logical Scholastica. The Latin root can be found in bis-roca, in informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is elaborate, with many details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. The word Baroque, like most periodic or stylistic designations, was invented by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the 17th, the term Baroque was initially used in a derogatory sense, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. In particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears earlier in reference to music. Another hypothesis says that the word comes from precursors of the style, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and he did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Long despised, Baroque art and architecture became fashionable between the two World Wars, and has remained in critical favour. In painting the gradual rise in popular esteem of Caravaggio has been the best barometer of modern taste, William Watson describes a late phase of Shang-dynasty Chinese ritual bronzes of the 11th century BC as baroque. The term Baroque may still be used, usually pejoratively, describing works of art, craft, the appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th-century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, germinal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo. Even more generalised parallels perceived by some experts in philosophy, prose style, see the Neapolitan palace of Caserta, a Baroque palace whose construction began in 1752. In paintings Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures, less ambiguous, less arcane and mysterious, more like the stage gestures of opera, Baroque poses depend on contrapposto, the tension within the figures that move the planes of shoulders and hips in counterdirections. Baroque is a style of unity imposed upon rich, heavy detail, Baroque style featured exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism. There were highly diverse strands of Italian baroque painting, from Caravaggio to Cortona, the most prominent Spanish painter of the Baroque was Diego Velázquez. The later Baroque style gradually gave way to a more decorative Rococo, while the Baroque nature of Rembrandts art is clear, the label is less often used for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while continuing to produce the traditional categories
25.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
26.
Churches on Gotland
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Of the churches of the Swedish island of Gotland,93 – the vast majority – are medieval. 92 of these are located on the countryside, with only Visby Cathedral remaining within the city wall of Visby, however, during the Middle Ages, the amount of churches was even larger, with at least 12 churches in Visby and an additional large number in the countryside. Some of these are visible as more or less well-preserved ruins. For further information about these ruined churches, see list of church ruins on Gotland, Gotland began to gradually abandon Norse religion and adopt Christianity during the 11th century. The first churches to be built on Gotland were wooden, built in the manner of stave churches, none of these have survived intact. The most well-preserved remains, today in the Swedish History Museum, are those of Hemse stave church, traces and archaeological evidence of earlier stave churches have been discovered in ten different sites on Gotland. The remains point to an artistic decoration reminiscent of Viking art, stone churches began to replace wooden churches during the 12th century. These churches were Romanesque in style, with influences coming mainly from Denmark and western German architecture, importantly, the construction of Lund Cathedral in Scania established a source of influences in the relative vicinity. Likewise, the 1164 establishment of the Cistercian monastery of Roma Abbey on Gotland led to strong Cistercian influences in the period of church construction. These Romanesque churches were sometimes decorated internally with frescos, here also, the influences came most often from the west and south, but sometimes also from Russia. Similarly, the churches were adorned with sculpture, notably decorated baptismal fonts. Here, too, influences came from both the west and the east, but the sculptors themselves seem to have been native Gotlanders, finally, such churches also occasionally display wooden sculptures, such as triumphal crosses. These display a more markedly uniform western style, with coming from France or western Germany. During the 13th century, reconstruction works were started on several of these earlier churches, Gotland was enjoying a period of prosperity thanks to increasing trade, and, possibly, due to its role as a staging area for crusaders departing for the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The churches were made larger and more elaborate, the style began to shift in favour of the Gothic, although few churches on Gotland display a pronounced Gothic style. The most elaborate parts of these churches are often the portals, the towers of these churches are also taller and more elaborate than earlier towers. Another typical feature is the choir that lacks an apse. Internally, frescos and wooden sculpture continued to enjoy popularity, as well as stained glass windows
27.
Ala Church
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Ala Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Ala on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The oldest part of the church is the nave, erected during the 12th century. The choir was added during the middle of the 13th century, the presently visible church lacks an apse, typically for churches on Gotland, and instead has a straight eastern wall. The tower is older than the choir. The southern portals of the church exhibit some unusual stone sculptures, inside, the church is decorated with medieval frescos, consisting of two sets made separately at different times. The oldest date from the late 13th century and depict legendary animals, the church was ravaged by fire in 1938, and most of the furnishings, including a 13th-century triumphal cross, were destroyed. The medieval baptismal font, made of local limestone, was among the few items that survived. In 1938–1940, restoration work was carried out, and the church got a new organ in 1955, media related to Ala Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Alskog Church
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Alskog Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Alskog on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The oldest part of the church is the nave, dating from the first quarter of the 13th century and it displays an unusual southern portal, decorated with sculptures. Inside, the nave is divided in two parts by two columns and has a vaulted ceiling. The tower is later but also from the early 13th century. Its portal show similarities with the portal of Visby Cathedral. The much larger choir and vestry were added circa 1300, the ambition was probably to rebuild the whole church into a larger, Gothic church, but for some reason only the eastern part of the church was rebuilt. Few alterations have been made since the Middle Ages, during the 19th century, some windows were added and new pews installed. The church underwent a renovation in 1964–1965, a few separate medieval sculptures also survive, originally part of a 14th-century retable. The church windows have several preserved stained glass panes from around 1300 and they depict scenes from the life of Jesus. From the time after the Reformation, the pulpit deserves mention and it was made in 1586 and is the oldest pulpit on Gotland. The church also has a pair of embroidered bags for collection of alms made in Istanbul in 1775 and they were brought to the church by the priest at the Swedish legation in the city, who was the son of a pastor in Alskog Church. Media related to Alskog Church at Wikimedia Commons Official site
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Alva Church
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Alva Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Alva on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The oldest parts of the church are the late Romanesque choir, to this the nave was added during the late part of the same century. Construction of the tower started about a hundred years later but was never finished. It seems in fact that construction of the came to a rapid end, apart from the half-finished tower. The choir portal is Romanesque in style and carried some sculpted reliefs, the likewise Romanesque northern portal of the church is also decorated with sculptures. Inside, the church displays a set of frescos carried out at the end of the Middle Ages, probably just before the reformation, the pulpit dates from 1740 and the unusually decorated altarpiece from 1653. The church was renovated in 1953–54, official site Media related to Alva Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Anga Church, Gotland
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Anga Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Anga on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. Anga Church takes its name from a now vanished farmstead, mentioned in an inscription at the end of the 11th century. The first church was built as a church for the large farm. During archaeological excavations carried out in 1946–1947, traces of burnt wood were found, the presently visible Romanesque church was built during the 13th century. Thanks to dendrochronological investigations of still intact wooden details, the church can be dated quite precisely, the choir and apse were built circa 1215, and are the oldest parts of the church. The nave dates from 1250 and the tower from 1265, the church is one of the most well-preserved Romanesque churches on Gotland, and gives a good impression of how most of the churches on the island might once have looked. The interior is notable for its decoration in the form of frescos. The frescos date from two periods, the oldest ones from the end of the 13th century and these are mostly ornamental, and unusual in that they are signed by the artist, a painter named Halvard. A later set of frescos depict the Passion of Christ together with legends of saints, the church has been decorated with plenty of medieval wooden sculptures, of which most are today at the Museum of Gotland in Visby. Still in the church is the altarpiece, dating from the 1370s, there is also a gravestone in the choir from the 13th century, with a runic inscription. Media related to Anga Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Ardre Church
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Ardre Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Ardre on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The oldest part of the church is the tower, dating from about 1200, the tower originally belonged to an earlier church building from the 12th century, the nave and choir of which was replaced with the current building circa 1250. The sculptured choir portal originally also belonged to the earlier church, the interior of the church was heavily remodelled after plans by artist Axel Haig in 1900–1902, in a Neo-Medieval style. The dominating wall paintings are designed by Hägg. A few stained glass windows remain but were complemented by modern replicas during the renovation, the organ is an elaborate Gothic Revival piece, made for the renovation in 1902 and inspired by medieval French organs. Media related to Ardre Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Atlingbo Church
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Atlingbo Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Atlingbo on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The present church was erected on the site of an earlier, the presently visible church was erected during the 13th century. The oldest parts are the choir and apse, dating from the first part of the century, at the end of the century, the nave and tower base were constructed, the tower was never finished. The sacristy was added in 1800-01, the church has three remaining medieval portals, two Gothic and one Romanesque. Among the furnishings of the church, the font, made during the 12th century probably by the Romanesque sculptor Byzantios is noteworthy. The altar and pulpit date from the 17th century while the pews are from the 18th century, media related to Atlingbo Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Barlingbo Church
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Barlingbo Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Barlingbo on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The presently visible church was finished c and it was however preceded by another church, whose foundations have been discovered under the floor of the present one. The oldest parts of Barlingbo Church are the choir and apse and these have been dated to 1225. Following this, the nave was built, and lastly the tower, the church in its entirety dates from the 13th century. The church has three portals, two of which are in Gothic style and one, the oldest, which is still in the Romanesque tradition, in the western, tower façade there is a rose window. There are also Gothic windows with still extant painted glass from c.1280 in the apse, inside, Barlingbo Church is divided by vaults in three sections, length-wise. Its consciously conceived plan has been interpreted as being influenced by Cistercian architecture, the walls are decorated by frescos from different times. Oldest of these are a number of decorative, grey triangles and crosses. A set of more monumental but likewise purely decorative frescos in the nave, later, from the 14th century, are frescos in the apse depicting six apostles, unique in their appearance on Gotland. Among the furnishings, the altar has a Baroque top, dated 1683. The triumphal cross is from c, perhaps the most unusual item in the church is the baptismal font, dating from the second part of the 12th century and richly decorated with carved figures. It displays figures from the Bible and the symbols of the evangelists, some of the figures are also marked with runes. The unusual font, carved from a block of limestone, is not comparable to any other baptismal font on Gotland. Art historian Johnny Roosval considered it to be one of the finest pieces of art from medieval Sweden, influences from English art from the time have been traced in the font. In the choir, some tombstones from the 13th and 14th centuries are visible, the pews and the organ cover are from the 19th century. One of the bells is from c.1440 and carries inscriptions evoking Christ, Mary and Saint Dionysius. Close to the lies the old parsonage. It was built in 1902 in a style mixing Gothic Revival with Renaissance Revival architecture and this turn-of-the-century interpretation of Medieval architecture is unique on Gotland
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Boge Church
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Boge Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Boge not far from Slite on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. Boge Church is an early Gothic church, the oldest parts are the choir and the sacristy, dating from the mid-13th century. The nave is somewhat later, and replaced an earlier, Romanesque nave, the tower seen today however dates from 1867–92, as the old tower collapsed during a storm in 1857. On this occasion, the nave was also damaged. Externally, the church is supported by a buttress, erected after the storm in 1857 to stabilise the church. The main portal is somewhat later than the rest of the building, internally, the church is decorated with two sets of frescos dating from the construction period and the mid-15th century, respectively. The later ones are in the style of the so-called Master of the Passion of Christ, most of the furnishings date from the 18th century, with the exception of the baptismal font and a large, medieval iron chandelier. Some medieval tombstones are also visible in the choir, media related to Boge Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Bro Church, Gotland
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Bro Church is a Lutheran church of the Diocese of Visby built in medieval times. It lies in Bro, on the Swedish island of Gotland, the present-day church is possibly located on an ancient pre-Christian sacred site. There is a nearby the church which tradition claims to have been a sacrificial well. More concretely, the area is rich in ancient remains, notably a number of stones dating from the 5th century. A first Christian church was built in the form of a stave church during the 12th century. Building of the visible stone church probably began in the early 13th century. The present tower, dating from the 1240s, is a remains of this first, during the middle of the 13th century, a new Gothic apse replaced the previous Romanesque, and likewise a new nave was erected at the end of the century. During this time the profusely rich medieval decoration of the church was also successively added. Several of the details, such as the pulpit and altarpiece, were also added during the Baroque era. Even so, the church one of the most well-preserved medieval churches on Gotland. Bro church displays a mix of Romanesque and Gothic architecture and art, the tower is a sturdy late Romanesque edifice. The nave is a high, Gothic room with broad vaults which do not rest on any supporting pillars, the apse is straight, typically for churches on Gotland, instead of semi-circular. Several Romanesque friezes, dating from the church, has been incorporated haphazardly in the Gothic church in the exterior wall. A few considerably older picture stones have also been immured in the church, the church has a richly carved southern portal, with capitals depicting, on one side the childhood of Christ, the Resurrection and Hell, while the other side displays intricately carved foliage. Wall paintings cover much of the interior of the church, the original, medieval paintings display scenes from the Passion of Christ, and Christ in Majesty. These paintings have on several places been painted over during the 17th century with acanthus-motives, Bro church still has its original Romanesque baptismal font, a work by the sculptor Sigraf. Media related to Bro church, Gotland at Wikimedia Commons Official site
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Bunge Church
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Bunge Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Bunge on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. Archaeological excavations carried out in 1916 and 1971 have shown that the present, mainly Gothic church was pre-dated by a Romanesque church, the massive, fortress-like tower of the church is somewhat later but belonged to this first edifice. The church and churchyard are surrounded by a wall which originally reached much higher and had a defensive purpose, four medieval gates still survive in the wall. The church complex evidently has fulfilled a role, as there are marks from pikes and crossbow bolts in the sturdy tower-door. In addition, the inside of the church is decorated with frescos depicting, among other things. The frescos and the wall may date from the short period in history when Gotland belonged to the Teutonic Order. This has led scholars to speculate whether the church for a time might have been owned by the crusading Order. The church is one of the largest on northern Gotland, as mentioned, it displays a mix between Romanesque and Gothic. The church has a finely carved southern portal, rich in sculpture, the most distinguishing feature of the interior is no doubt the richly painted walls, with frescos executed by a master painter probably from Prussia or Bohemia. As for the previously mentioned depicted knights, scholars have different views of what they may depict or represent, one theory is that they are Teutonic knights. A single remaining painted glass window remains, a font from the 13th century and an oddity, a mite box in stone. Media related to Bunge Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Burs Church
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Burs Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Burs on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The church in Burs derives its shape from the fact that it was built in stages. The nave is the oldest part of the church, dating from the early 13th century, the large tower was built in the middle of the same century, while the un-proportionally large Gothic choir was built a century later, replacing an earlier Romanesque choir and apse. Externally, the church is not least for its choir portal. The doorway displays Gothic sculptures depicting a blessing Christ, apostles and saints, as well as a large frieze spanning the whole of the portal, the choir, and hence the choir portal, was probably built by a stonemasons workshop sometimes referred to as Master Egypticus. The same workshop probably made an unusual, very elaborate carved limestone bench inside the church, the interior is spacious and airy. Of furnishings, the altarpiece deserves special mention and it is an unusually accomplished work of art made in Lübeck or northern Germany during the first half of the 15th century. The church also has a cross from the 13th century, traces of medieval stained glass paintings and several pieces if furnishings which are later. The church was renovated in 1960-1964. Media related to Burs Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Buttle Church
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Buttle Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Buttle on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. It is one of the more well-preserved Romanesque churches on Gotland, Buttle Church is one of the more well-preserved Romanesque churches on Gotland. The oldest parts are the part of the choir and the nave. The tower was added circa 1220, an original apse was pulled down during the middle of the 14th century and replaced by the present structure with a straight east end, in Gothic style. The only later additions are the windows of the nave, which were made in 1882-83, internally, the church is decorated with frescos. All the frescos in the church have been attributed to the Master of the Passion of Christ or his workshop, the church retains several medieval furnishings. The triumphal cross is one of the earliest of its kind on Gotland and it was probably made by a local artist but shows influences from German art from the period. The altarpiece is also medieval, from the 15th century, the altarpiece displays carved wooden figures depicting the crucifixion and a number of saints. The baptismal font is also noteworthy, from the middle of the 13th century and its base is decorated with sculpted heads of humans and beasts. The pews are in a vernacular Baroque style, in the 1950s they were restored to their original colour scheme. They were probably decorated by the same artist who worked in Vänge Church, media related to Buttle Church at Wikimedia Commons Curman, Sigurd, Tuulse, Armin
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Dalhem Church
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Dalhem Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Dalhem on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The very first church on the site was a stave church and this was followed by small stone church on the same site. This church, probably Romanesque in style, seems to have had a choir with an apse, in the presently visible church, the choir and nave are the oldest parts, dating from the 13th century. The tower, the portal and the large window on the western façade date from the 14th century. The construction was led by Cistercian monks from nearby Roma Abbey, the church was subsequently left more or less unchanged, with only some furnishings – notably, the carved wooden pulpit – being added later. In 1899 a major renovation of the church started, which to a large degree transformed the church, in 1899 a renovation of the church began. The architect and artist Axel Herman Hägg collected money, also internationally, the work continued for fifteen years, until 1914. The church was altered both externally and internally, in an attempt to make the church appear even more medieval. The renovation was considered remarkable at the time, and led to the church being called the shrine of Gotland. Today, the renovation has been described instead as a harsh and it remains an interesting example of the ideas of cultural heritage conservation prevalent at the time. The church consists of three parts, the tower, nave and choir. The tower, which reaches over 50 metres is adorned with galleries, the main portal, on the south façade, is decorated with carved stone sculptures with motifs unusual for Gotland. In the wall adjacent to the portal, a tombstone originating from the earlier stone church has been immured. The exterior of the church has been whitewashed but the limestone was laid bare during the 1899–1914 renovation. Internally, the church is dominated by the changes made in 1899–1914. The church for example has the oldest preserved stained glass windows on Gotland, several medieval frescos also survive, depicting e. g. the crucifixion and the archangel Michael. The walls are dominated by the many paintings made by Hägg during the renovation. A niche intended to house the bread and wine of the Eucharist, is actually a fragment from the earlier
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Eke Church
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Eke Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Eke on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The current church with its Romanesque nave and Gothic tower was predated by a church on the same location. The stave church had been decorated with paintings in Byzantine style, the oldest part of the current building is the nave and choir, dating from the mid-13th century. The disproportionally massive tower was added circa 1300, later additions to the church include the vestry, and the enlargement of all original windows save one. Externally, the church is dominated by the massive tower, the tower has a Gothic portal while the nave has Romanesque portals, decorated with alternating red limestone and grey-green sandstone. Internally, the church is decorated with medieval frescos. The oldest are found in the choir and depict animals, geometrical ornaments. The other frescos are from the middle of the 15th century, among the church furnishings, the baptismal font by the Romanesque sculptor Sigraf, dating from the 12th century, deserves mention, as do a wooden Madonna from about 1500. The pews and the pulpit are from the 18th century, the church was renovated in 1916 and 1969-1971. Media related to Eke Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Ekeby Church
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Ekeby Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Ekeby on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The oldest part of Ekeby Church is the tower, dating from the end of the 12th century, the nave and choir are circa one century younger and Gothic in style. At the end of the 13th century, the tower was heightened to its present height. Most notable in the exterior of the church are the two portals, which are richly decorated with stone carvings. These were originally painted, and fragments of colour survive, inside, the church is profusely decorated with frescos. The nave has frescos from the 13th, 14th and 18th century, among the other frescos, the large frescos depicting the apostles are the oldest, from the end of the 13th century. Under them are frescos done by the Master of the Passion of Christ depicting, on the wall, the Passion of Christ and, on the southern. During a renovation in 2004, further frescos were discovered, originally, all the windows had stained glass panes, but today only a few original remain. An unusual niche in the choir, probably designed as a storage for the bread and wine from the Eucharist, among the furnishings, the accomplished Romanesque triumphal cross deserves mention. It is from the end of the 12th century, the sandstone baptismal font is also an unusual fine piece, from approximately the same time. Scholars believe that it may have made by either Master Majestatis or Hegvald. Church frescos in Sweden Media related to Ekeby Church at Wikimedia Commons
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Eksta Church
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Eksta Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Eksta on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The oldest part of Eksta Church is the tower, dating from the 13th century, the rest of the church is also from the Middle Ages, but was heavily rebuilt in 1838. The church still has four portals, in both Romanesque and Gothic style. The interior of the church is largely Neoclassical, dating from the 1838 renovation, a few traces of medieval frescos have survived on the walls, as have a single stained glass window pane. The church underwent a renovation in 2010, media related to Eksta Church at Wikimedia Commons Official site
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Endre Church
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Endre Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Endre on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The presently visible church was preceded by an older, Romanesque church, of this church, only the tower, built in the 12th century and heightened in the 14th, remains. A few stone sculptures have also been re-used in the church, e. g. one sculpture depicting a dragon. These are now immured in the southern façade of the church, the rest of the church dates from the 13th century and the early 14th. The building material of the church is limestone, apart from the aforementioned Romanesque sculptures, the exterior of the church is also adorned with sculpted portals, both Romanesque and Gothic in style. Internally, the church is decorated with frescos made by the artist known as the Master of the Passion of Christ in the middle of the 15th century, the frescos were uncovered during a renovation in 1915. The church also have several preserved stained glass panes from the Middle Ages. The altarpiece is furthermore medieval, from the late 14th century, the triumphal cross dates from circa 1300, and the baptismal font, possibly made by the artist Hegvald, is a Romanesque piece from the 12th century, richly decorated. The church lies in a cemetery that is surrounded by a low limestone wall, media related to Endre Church at Wikimedia Commons Official site
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Eskelhem Church
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Eskelhem Church is a medieval Lutheran church in Eskelhem on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. Eskelhem Church was preceded by a church, of which nothing remains. Circa 1200 it was replaced by a stone church, the walls of the nave of the present church are all that remains of this edifice. The church was enlarged and rebuilt until it received its present form in the middle of the 14th century. Internally, the church is decorated with different sets of frescos, dating from the end of the 13th century and the 15th, the latter by the Master of the Passion of Christ. Among the church furnishings, the font from the 12th century, probably made by Master Byzantios. Media related to Eskelhem Church at Wikimedia Commons Official site
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Etelhem Church
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Etelmhem Church is a medieval Lutheran church on the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Diocese of Visby. The first church erected on the site was probably a small Romanesque stone church, the oldest part of the presently visible, mainly Gothic church is the tower, erected in the early 13th century and still in Romanesque style. The choir and nave seem to have been built circa 1300, the vestry is the latest addition to the church, stemming from the 17th century. Externally, the church displays a few sculpted elements of Romanesque origins, inside, the church is decorated with frescos from two different periods. The oldest ones, dating from the 14th century, are fragmentary, while the somewhat later depict apostles and these later frescos were made by the artist known as the Master of the Passion of Christ. A few original stained glass windows also remain, the most noteworthy item among the furnishings is the 12th century baptismal font by the little-known master stone sculptor Hegvald. The triumphal cross is from the 14th century and still in its original place, most later furnishings are from the 17th century. The church was renovated in 1957-58, media related to Etelhem Church at Wikimedia Commons
Media related to Garde church at Wikimedia Commons
