Pelarne kyrka

The oldest part of the building, the chancel, is thought to date from the early thirteenth century, with Romanesque details—particularly in the eastern chancel wall—supporting this dating, though the exact age has never been conclusively established. Some sources suggest it may be the oldest wooden church in Sweden still in use. The church is built of horizontal pine timber and comprises a nave with a narrower, lower, straight-ended chancel to the east. A small five-sided porch stands to the west, a stone sacristy adjoins the chancel's north wall, and a stone burial chapel lies to the south. A detached bell tower dating from the late seventeenth century stands outside the churchyard wall.

One of the church's most unusual features is a small medieval chancel window, concealed behind the altarpiece since the mid-eighteenth century, containing three tiny window niches and a painting of the sacrificial lamb. It was rediscovered during restoration work in 1989, and hinges were subsequently fitted to the altarpiece so it can be folded back to reveal the window. According to the Swedish National Heritage Board, no comparable chancel window is known to survive in any other wooden church in Sweden, making it a notable curiosity for visitors, though as with any such claim of uniqueness it is worth treating as a matter of expert assessment rather than absolute certainty.

Among the church's artworks, a triumphal crucifix dated to around 1300 is generally considered the most striking piece, alongside a fifteenth-century medieval sculpture depicting the Coronation of the Virgin. The pulpit dates from the mid-eighteenth century.

The church has a notable connection to Swedish literary history: on 30 June 1905, Samuel August Ericsson and Hanna Jonsson were married here. Two years later their daughter, who would become the author Astrid Lindgren, was born. A local folk legend, "The Girl from Pelarne," also centres on the church, concerning an eighteenth-century pastor said to have given up his daughter for adoption amid doubts over her parentage—though such wandering legends should be understood as traditional stories rather than verified history.

The church's organ has been rebuilt several times, most recently in 1999 by Ålems Orgelverkstad, incorporating elements from earlier instruments dating back to 1831.