Bredsättra kyrka

The earliest stone church on this site dates from the mid-1100s, a typical Öland 'clövsadelkyrka' with defensive towers at both the east and west ends, linked by a low nave with a small chancel apse. Traces of this medieval building survive beneath the floor of the present church, and its three-storey west tower, including an upper chamber once used as a watch cell, was retained when the church was rebuilt.

Sources differ slightly on the details of the rebuilding: one account credits the design to Theodor Edberg with construction led by builder Peter Isberg, while another names Gustaf Rudwall as the builder who began work in 1846, succeeded on his death in 1848 by C L Lindgren. Both agree the parish and builders adapted the original drawings during construction, a common practice at the time. The east tower was demolished and replaced with a new nave and a straight-ended chancel, plus a sacristy to the north, in a restrained neoclassical style both inside and out. The west tower gained an eight-sided lantern topped with a helm roof and spire in 1861.

Inside, visitors can see a font carved in the 1200s, attributed to the Gotland sculptor Calcarius I, and a primitive bell (primklocka) thought to date from around 1300. A wooden crucifix with a Christ figure carved around 1500, once part of an older altar shrine, was fitted into a cross made in 1770. A fifteenth-century sculpture depicts Saint Katarina of Vadstena, alongside another figure of an as yet unidentified saint.

The chancel is dominated by an imposing altarpiece surrounding a copy, by Sven Gustaf Lindblom, of David von Krafft's Deposition from the Cross in Kalmar Cathedral, with a smaller copy of Fredric Westin's Resurrection above it. Carved figures from a late-medieval altar shrine also survive on the altarpiece, and the drapery painting is thought to date from around 1850. The pulpit, made in 1768 by Nils Linhardt Lindman with decorative painting by Anders Georg Wadsten, was brought over from the earlier church.

Among the church's furnishings is one of Öland's oldest votive ships, Svea, dating from the mid-1700s, a reminder of the seafaring life of the parish. The remains of a thirteenth-century chapel dedicated to Saint Birgitta also lie within the parish, at Kapelludden, tying the church to the legend recounted in its introduction.