Appuna kyrka, set beside the road between Väderstad and Skänninge in Östergötland, is a late 19th-century parish church that replaced a medieval predecessor. Visitors come chiefly for its richly painted interior and a handful of striking survivals from the church that stood here before.
The present building dates from 1886–1887, replacing a stone church believed to have been built in the 1100s on the same medieval site. That earlier church, with its rounded apse and later additions, had fallen into poor condition and was pulled down once the new building was ready; a runestone that had been built into its sacristy wall now stands beside the current church. The new church was designed in the Neo-Romanesque style fashionable in Sweden at the time, with a rectangular nave, a polygonal chancel to the east and a tall west tower topped with a pointed spire.
The interior is notable for its colourful painted decoration. In 1898 the artist Ludvig Frid decorated the vaulted chancel and painted the altarpiece, showing Christ on the cross with a mourning woman, thought to represent Mary Magdalene. His scheme includes biblical scenes across the chancel ceiling and a monochrome frieze reportedly inspired by an idea of the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. The chancel windows, added in 1910, depict the four evangelists in stained glass.
Several objects recall the medieval church that once stood here. A stone figure of Christ from the 1200s and a wooden crucifix from the 1300s are kept in the tower chamber, along with fragments and paintings that once flanked the old altarpiece. The font, carved from red limestone, was made in 1660 by Michael Hacke of Skänninge and remains in use. Other medieval furnishings and sculptures from the old church, including parts of a fifteenth-century altarpiece and a small bronze incense burner, were transferred to the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm in the 1880s.
The church's pulpit, pews and organ gallery date from the building's construction. A modest mechanical organ was built in 1891 by E. A. Setterquist & Son of Örebro, replacing an earlier instrument bought from Heda church. Among the smaller curiosities noted in parish records is what is described as one of Sweden's oldest surviving small bells, cast in the 1200s and now held in the History Museum rather than in the church itself.
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Väderstads församling
Väderstads församling
Appuna kyrka, set beside the road between Väderstad and Skänninge in Östergötland, is a late 19th-century parish church that replaced a medieval predecessor. Visitors come chiefly for its richly painted interior and a handful of striking survivals from the church that stood here before.
Appuna kyrka, 590 21, Väderstad
Explore this church: Appuna kyrkaChurch information: Svenska kyrkan, Platser · CC BY 4.0. Each church page includes its credits and visiting notes.
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View church details: Ödeshögs kyrkaLocation and available visiting information. A fuller English guide is still to be added.
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View church details: Tveta kyrkaSources, credits and English adaptations are identified on each church page. Provider data: Svenska kyrkan, Platser · CC BY 4.0.
Provider catalogue data: Svenska kyrkan, Platser, CC BY 4.0. Separately credited descriptions retain their stated source and licence terms. Catalogue and visiting data reformatted from the provider. The English guide combines and abridges separately credited sources below.
Provider record updated: 11 May 2026. This is not an independent verification date.
Source record: caf6cfdc-51ad-43d1-ae72-fa2a61a7dd75
This English guide combines, abridges and translates the sources below with AI assistance, with editorial contributions by Churches in Sweden. It has not been independently verified. The adapted guide text is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Photographs and map data have their own terms.