Odensala kyrka

The oldest parts of the church, forming the two western bays of the nave, were built of granite fieldstone around the end of the 1100s, probably replacing an earlier wooden church. The tower was added later, likely in the 1200s, and a brick portal between nave and porch followed in the same century. Around 1500 the building was substantially extended eastward, gaining its present-day chancel and additional vaulting.

The church's greatest attraction is its scheme of vault paintings, created between about 1480 and 1500 and attributed to an artist from Albertus Pictor's workshop, reportedly commissioned under Archbishop Jakob Ulfsson. The scenes draw on the Old Testament and follow the traditional Biblia Pauperum arrangement of parallel imagery. Unusually, these ceiling paintings are said never to have been limewashed over, meaning visitors can see medieval colour and detail that in most churches was lost or later uncovered through restoration. The wall paintings, by contrast, were whitewashed at various points as windows were enlarged in the 1700s, then rediscovered and repainted during a restoration in 1896 — so what is seen on the walls today reflects that later intervention rather than the original medieval work.

The church has suffered two serious fires, in 1769 and again in 1940, both of which damaged the roof and tower; the tower's current copper-clad cap dates from the rebuilding after the 1940 fire. Despite this history, the paintings themselves survived largely intact.

Among the furnishings, a fourteenth-century triumphal crucifix hangs at its traditional position, marking the former division between chancel and nave. The pulpit, dating from 1714, was a gift from Count Karl Gyllenstierna and is decorated with torches and a star-covered globe bearing the Lamb of God. A smaller, worn crucifix kept in the sacristy is thought to date from the early 1500s and may once have been used in processions. A late medieval altarpiece triptych from 1514, formerly in the church, is now held at the Historical Museum rather than on site.

In June 2012 a substantial fragment of a runestone, thought to be the work of the rune-carver Åsmund, was found built into the churchyard wall — a reminder of the site's much older history predating the church itself.