Bengtsfors kyrka

The waterfall that gives the town its name once powered household mills, and further industry gradually grew up around it, helping Bengtsfors expand into a settlement large enough to want its own church.

The church was built in 1925, a year before Bengtsfors became a köping (market town), and was consecrated in 1926 by Bishop Johan Alfred Eklund. It was designed by engineer Simon Svensson of Gothenburg, with the vicar Ernst Boman said to have been a driving force behind the project. Ärtemark remained the mother parish, and burials for Bengtsfors residents traditionally took place at Ärtemarks kyrka. The building is one of four similar Dalsland churches erected around this period by independent foundations or associations using publicly raised funds, later passing into parish ownership.

The timber church has a rectangular nave with a raised chancel and, unusually, is oriented south-west to north-east rather than the more common east-west axis. Its white-painted, batten-jointed panelling and restrained detailing reflect the classicism fashionable in Swedish architecture during the 1920s. A freestanding bell tower with a curved, copper-clad spire was added in 1933, and a parish hall followed in 1980.

The porch and sacristy were added during a substantial renovation in 1957, led by architect Verner Johansson, which also reshaped parts of the interior; a further renovation took place in 1983. Despite these changes, much of the church's original character has been retained, and the plain, light interior has been likened to that of a Free Church chapel rather than a grand parish church.

The altarpiece, painted in 1957 by the Stockholm artist Fredrik Henkelmann (recorded elsewhere as "Henkelman"), depicts Christ's words from the Sermon on the Mount about being a light to the world. The pulpit dates from the church's construction, its exterior later decorated with carved figures of Christ and the four evangelists, while the wooden font with its brass basin was a gift from the local church brotherhood. The organ, built in 1948 by John Grönvall's workshop in Lilla Edet, has been adjusted more than once since, and a small mechanical choir organ was added in 1972.