Hannas kyrka

The church's origins are debated. An early twentieth-century cathedral architect praised it as a remarkably well-preserved example of a simple, early Romanesque Skåne country church, implying a twelfth-century date, and Wikipedia likewise suggests construction in the later 1100s. A more recent assessment from 2004, however, places its origin in the late Romanesque period, around the mid-1200s or early 1300s. Visitors should treat the church's precise age as uncertain rather than settled.

The first building phase saw the apse, chancel and nave raised entirely in limestone, with south and north doorways and a window to the south, and further openings in the apse and chancel. Notably, the north side of the church appears never to have had windows, a detail perhaps connected to the old regional belief that trolls held sway on that side of the building. In a later medieval phase a porch was added to the north and a tower built to the west; brick vaulting was subsequently added over the chancel and nave, altering the wall-heads and window openings and leading to the south doorway being blocked.

A distinctive local tradition concerns the kyrkogrim, a creature said in folklore to have been buried alive beneath one of the church's foundation stones when it was built, later becoming a fearsome guardian spirit, particularly feared by wrongdoers. At Hannas this figure was said to have taken the form of a calf or a lamb.

The font is the church's oldest furnishing and is attributed to Sighraf, a Gotland stonemason active around the turn of the thirteenth century; it is richly carved, with biblical figures on the base and scenes from scripture around the bowl. The church also holds a triumphal crucifix dated to around 1300 and an altarpiece dated to 1651. The pews carry old folk paintings and were traditionally marked with farm numbers, a reminder of the parish's rural congregation. Wikipedia also notes that some scenes from the film Den bästa av mödrar were filmed inside the church.