Njurunda kyrka

The present church replaced an earlier medieval stone church, thought to date from around the mid-1200s, that stood about a kilometre away on a terrace beside the river Ljungan. Erosion of the riverbank was one reason for its abandonment; the old building was further damaged by a lightning strike and fire in 1870, and its roof was later removed for safety. The ruin can still be seen today.

The current church was built in 1862 under master builder J. Nordell to designs by the architect Johan Fredrik Åbom, and was consecrated by Bishop Anders Fredrik Beckman (sources differ on the exact date, giving either April 1865 or 30 April in an earlier year). It is a three-aisled basilica with a large rectangular nave, a multi-sided chancel, and a west tower.

A fire in 1901 destroyed the church's original organ. A new instrument by E. A. Setterquist & Son was installed in 1902; the current 32-stop organ, by Hammarbergs Orgelbyggeri, was inaugurated in 1971 and stands in an 1862 case designed by Åbom. Restoration work in the 1950s altered the chancel windows and simplified the altar, replacing an earlier cross and shroud with a smaller silver cross.dimensions.py.txt

Several striking older furnishings survive, including a damaged fifteenth-century processional crucifix and the so-called Njurunda antependium, three square panels with interlaced frame-work typical of the 1500s. The Njurunda Madonna, a wooden figure sometimes dated to the 1200s and elsewhere placed between the 1300s and 1500s, is thought to be the work of a local sculptor.

Among the church's more unusual features is an astronomical clock built by hand in the late 1950s or 1960s by Leonard Larsson, a local craftsman and churchwarden, later given to the church by his daughters after his death.