Långlöts kyrka

Archaeological finds, including a rune-carved stone fragment and a piece of roof timber dated to around 1080, suggest that the earliest church on this site was a wooden building from the late 11th century. This was succeeded by a Romanesque stone church with an apse, built in stages during the 12th century, which included the construction of a west tower.

A major transformation took place in the first half of the 13th century, when the master builder Håkan Tanna, active on both Öland and Gotland, remodelled the church into a distinctive "cloven-gable" type. The walls of the nave and chancel were raised, vaults were added, an upper storey was created, and the chancel was rebuilt upward into an east tower. A sacristy was later added on the south side of the chancel.

Much of this medieval structure was swept away in 1795–96, when Henrik Wermelin carried out a thorough rebuilding that gave the church its current appearance. The west tower, with its Romanesque sound openings and medieval crown, was retained, along with parts of the south wall and the south-east corner, but the vaulted east tower and other sections were demolished. In their place rose the present spacious hall church, with a straight-ended chancel, tall windows and a wooden barrel vault in the fashionable style of the period. The sacristy was moved to the north side of the chancel in 1855, replacing an earlier one on the south.

Inside, visitors can see a grey limestone font from Gotland, generally dated to the late 12th or early 13th century, among the oldest surviving furnishings. A second, red polished limestone font dates from 1668. Other notable items include a North German depiction of the Madonna from the early 14th century, a pulpit carved in 1763 and later altered, and an altarpiece painted in 1854 after a work attributed to Raphael, depicting Christ carrying the cross, set within an altar surround topped by a radiating sun motif.

Further curiosities include a carved wooden relief of an angel wiping away human sins, thought to date from around 1750 and originally part of an older altarpiece, two wooden figures on the north wall believed to represent John the Baptist and Moses, and a votive ship in the form of a three-masted sailing vessel. The church's organ was rebuilt in 1970 behind its earlier facade, replacing instruments installed in the 19th century.