Fors kyrka

According to tradition, St Eskil had a stone church built on this site around the middle of the eleventh century, replacing an earlier wooden stave church. The north and west walls of that early Romanesque building survive today, along with the porch, making them the oldest visible parts of the present structure. The porch is said to have last been restored in the seventeenth century.

The church was extended eastwards, probably in the fourteenth century, when a tower was added. Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries the nave was enlarged in a style matching the earlier Romanesque work, and the chancel was given transepts in the 1650s. The tower, thought to date from the early fifteenth century, originally served a defensive purpose, acting as a lookout and stronghold against intruders approaching along the river; its distinctive spire, raised in 1676, brings the tower to around fifty metres and gives the building its cross-shaped plan.

The Lohe family, wealthy local benefactors, funded much of the seventeenth-century rebuilding and were rewarded with a burial chapel between the north transept and the chancel, where several family members are interred. Around 1655 they also donated the church's Baroque pulpit and altarpiece. The pulpit carries carved figures of the four evangelists together with Christ and St Paul, while the altarpiece incorporates a seventeenth-century oil painting attributed to the French artist Eustache Le Sueur, depicting the Transfiguration, above which a further painting represents God the Father.//

Among the church's older furnishings is a seated bishop figure thought to date from the thirteenth century, one of several sculptures noted in the interior. A more recent addition is the St Eskil window in the north transept, unveiled at Whitsun 1987 and created by the church artist Bengt Olof Kälde, depicting scenes from the saint's life.

The main façade seen today dates from 1814, though its colours and gilding have since been refreshed; the organ case from that period was retained when the instrument was rebuilt in 1999. The church can seat around 450 people, and the adjoining parish hall is used for parish gatherings and can be booked for christening or funeral receptions.