Räpplinge kyrka

The earliest stone church at Räpplinge was built in the 1100s, comprising a nave and an apsidal chancel. A west tower was added later that century, and by its end the building had become a so-called klövsadelkyrka (a church with twin gabled towers), with the nave walls raised to include a defensive storey with loopholes — a response to the unsettled conditions around the Baltic at the time. Around 1240 a chapel, possibly a burial chapel, was added on the north side; its west gable, with a narrow round-arched window, survives. Tradition holds that Archbishop Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna's coffin rested here after his death at Borgholm Castle in 1468, before being moved to Uppsala Cathedral in 1472. A porch was added around the mid-1200s and a sacristy around 1300.

The church's proximity to Borgholm Castle meant it suffered badly during the wars of the 1500s and 1600s, and repairs were repeatedly needed. By the 1700s the building was judged too dilapidated, and a major rebuilding began in 1802 under master mason Henrik Wermelin, enlarging the church into a hall-type interior (salkyrka) with large round-arched windows, in keeping with contemporary taste. The medieval south portal and porch were retained. The tower was remodelled in 1820 and given an octagonal lantern with a helm roof and cross; the porch was demolished in 1897. Further renovations followed through the 20th century, most recently in 1983–84.　

Inside, visitors can see around ten medieval grave slabs carved with staff crosses, along with some fifty further slabs from the 1600s and 1700s. The medieval cross-marked altar slab remains in the old chapel. The font is of Öland limestone, dated 1642. A fragment of a secular tablecloth, embroidered in red silk on natural linen and thought to be Danish work from the 1600s, hangs in the sacristy; two further pieces are kept at the county museum in Kalmar.

The royal summer villa of Solliden lies within the parish, and this is reflected in the church's furnishings. An altar frontal is said to have been embroidered by King Gustaf V, and a pair of royal chairs was donated by court jeweller Gunnar Svensson of Kalmar. Two crucifixes, previously kept at Solliden, were given to the church by Princess Sibylla. Wikipedia additionally notes that Crown Princess Victoria was confirmed here in 1992.

A memorial grove in the northwest part of the churchyard, laid out with limestone paths in a labyrinth-like pattern and enclosed by tall hedges, was consecrated in 1992; it includes a limestone birdbath donated by Harry Engelholm. Near the churchyard stands a 1989 parish hall known as Kyrkstugan, designed by local architect Leonard Eriksson. A sundial of unknown age stands south of the church, and a number of weathered 17th- and 18th-century limestone grave slabs lie by the churchyard wall, one once marking the grave of local official Erich Hanson Törnecrantz, dated 1673.