Vikens kyrka

Before the present church was completed, two earlier chapels stood a short distance away in the old churchyard: a late medieval chapel dating from the 1500s and a timber-framed chapel of 1683, funded by a wealthy farmer from Ry. Building a new chapel here in that period was unusual, since only a handful of new churches were built anywhere in Skåne between the mid-1500s and the mid-1700s. For a long time Viken had no priest of its own, and clergy travelled from Väsby to hold services, using a route still known locally as Prästavägen (the Priest's Road).

As the old timber chapel deteriorated, villagers eventually decided to build a new stone church rather than repair it. Work began in the early 1820s to designs by the architect Carl Gustaf Blom Carlsson, and the church was consecrated in 1826 by the Bishop of Lund. A sacristy was added on the east side in 1873, designed by Ludwig Hawerman, and the current tower spire was completed in 1880.

Several notable furnishings were carried over from the earlier chapels. The oak font, carved from a single log said to have grown in the woods of Kulla Gunnarstorp, dates from the 1500s, while a hammered pewter christening dish bears the date 1683. Communion silver from around 1600 and the dish were gifts from the family at Kulla Gunnarstorp manor. The elaborate altarpiece of 1705 is attributed to the sculptor Gustav Khilman, who worked for a time in nearby Helsingborg; its original beige, red, gold and green colour scheme was uncovered during restoration work around 1990. During the same restoration, the painted oak pulpit was found to date from the late 1500s, older than previously thought. Sources give varying accounts of the altarpiece's precise date and origin, so this should be treated as approximate.atte more precisely, but the surviving accounts are not fully consistent.

The church is particularly known for its votive ships, a common feature in churches associated with fishing and seafaring communities. The oldest, a three-masted frigate named after Carl XIV Johan, dates from 1831; others include a two-masted brig from 1845, a full-rigged ship donated in 1932 by a local sailor, and a further brig said to have come from a church in the Kalmar area, given to Viken in 1960. Older chandeliers hang in the nave, including examples from the 1700s and a glass chandelier of 1731.

The organ has been rebuilt and altered several times, with work by Marcussen & Søn of Aabenraa in the 20th century; its case dates from around 1900. In 2012–13 the church gained a contemporary extension known as Skeppet ("The Ship"), designed by architect Erik Wikerstål and inaugurated at Easter 2013, adding a striking modern counterpoint to the older stone building.