Hyltinge kyrka

A church is thought to have stood on this site since the 1100s, though sources differ on exactly when the present stone building was raised: one account points to the late 1200s or early 1300s, another simply to the 1300s. A sandstone font surviving from the 1100s suggests an earlier, possibly timber, predecessor stood here first. The earliest depiction of the church is a 1683 drawing by the antiquarian Peringsköld, showing a rectangular medieval nave under 20 metres long.

Only minor alterations were made until the close of the 18th century, when windows were widened and a new west entrance replaced the old south porch, following the fashion of the time. A far more sweeping transformation came in 1803, when the building was reworked in an Empire style: the nave was extended eastward with a new chancel, a tower was added over the western end, and the medieval sacristy was demolished and rebuilt. An altar-pulpit was installed in the chancel at this time.

In 1902 the altar-pulpit was partly removed and replaced by the present oak pulpit, decorated with symbols of the four evangelists and designed by the architect Gustaf Pettersson. Wall paintings from 1644, attributed to Nils Målare, were uncovered on the nave walls during restoration work in 1958.

Above the altar hangs a crucifix with a gilded wooden figure of Christ dating from the 1600s. According to local tradition, the figure was originally found in a grave beneath the church floor, having once adorned the lid of a coffin — a practice noted in the 17th century — before being placed above the altar.

The church's organ history is recorded with some inconsistency between sources. One account states the first organ, built by Johan Lund of Stockholm in 1859, had eight stops and was later rebuilt in 1925 and again in 1947; another gives it ten stops and states the current instrument, retaining the old façade, was built in 1967–68 by the Sparreholm organ-builder Magnus Fries with seventeen stops. Visitors interested in music may also like to know that the Swedish band Kent recorded part of their album Röd within the church.