Rydebäcks kyrka

Rydebäck grew up quickly from the early 1960s as a housing estate developed on the former Rydebäck farm, yet for many years it had no proper place of worship. A parish hall was built in 1979, with an open-air, amphitheatre-like 'friluftskyrka' beside it, and it took a further two decades of planning before the church itself was completed in 1995, adjoining the older parish hall.

The building was designed by architect Bertil Mernsten, working closely with the parish building committee ahead of the formal building decision taken in March 1994. Mernsten is said to have drawn inspiration from the round churches of Bornholm. The church is built of pale yellow hollow-core brick, with curved façades that rise progressively higher, and its shell-like form has become one of its most distinctive features.

An asymmetrically placed pillar inside the church supports exposed roof beams that climb with the roofline; outside, the same pillar continues upward to form a spire-like tower crowned with a cross at the building's highest point, to the east. Between the pillar and the outer wall a narrow vertical window admits southern light onto the curved inner wall near the chancel. Three narrow window slits cut through the north façade. Three bells, cast by the Olsson bell foundry in Ystad, hang on the eastern side of the exterior and call worshippers to services.

The church had no organ for its first two years. In 1997 a nine-stop, fully mechanical organ built by organ-maker Knut Kaliff of Ålem was installed in the chancel, in keeping with older tradition; its case combines Swedish oak with more unusual materials such as Hungarian bone and ebony for the keys. The church is physically joined to the parish hall, designed by architect Tomas Frigyesi and built in 1980, and today the premises host activities for various age groups, including baby rhythmics, choirs and youth groups.