Åseda kyrka

Local tradition holds that the Norwegian saint-king Olof passed through the area, then called Ahsida, in the 11th century and converted its inhabitants, which is said to explain the church's early dedication to Saint Olof. The oldest surviving part of the building is the sacristy, thought to date from the later 12th century, though whether the church it served was originally built of timber or stone is uncertain. The present nave, a hall-church similar in type to Sjösås gamla kyrka, was built towards the end of the 15th century or the start of the 16th.

The church's current external appearance dates largely from a major rebuilding between 1796 and 1803, following renovations in the late 17th century. Plans were prepared by Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz at the Överintendentsämbetet, developed from a sketch by the vicar Samuel Heurlin. The old west porch was replaced by a tall tower with a helm-shaped roof and an open lantern topped by a cross, while the nave was extended eastward with a semicircular chancel. The bells, previously housed in a separate bell tower, were moved into the new church tower.

Among the fittings, the altarpiece by the sculptor Sven Segervall depicts the Institution of the Eucharist flanked by richly carved, inscribed pillars crowned with figures of Moses and Christ as ruler of the world; it was acquired in 1724 as a gift from the provost Laurentius Algerus. A fifteenth-century altar cabinet shows Saint Olof and the Apostle Andrew, with painted saints on its side doors, including Mary Magdalene, Saint Dorothy, Saint Barbara and Catherine of Alexandria. Further medieval sculpture includes a Pietà and a figure of the suffering Christ, both dated to the late 1400s, and a triumphal crucifix probably from the same period or slightly later.

The pulpit, in a late-Renaissance style with a sounding board from the 1600s, was later enriched in 1730 with figure sculptures by Sven Segervall. The font is carved from polished red limestone dating to the 17th century, and the box pews in the nave were fitted in 1803. The organ loft has a rounded central section painted in 1938 by the Växjö artist Torsten Hjelm.

The church has had a succession of organs since 1679, when an eight-stop instrument was built by Magnus Åhrman; later organs followed in 1753, 1854/55, 1936 and 1968. The present mechanical organ, built in 1968 by Olof Hammarberg of Gothenburg, retains an earlier, richly gilded acanthus-ornamented case dating from 1761.