Kristine kyrka

Construction was a long affair: work began in 1649 but the church was not consecrated until 1673, and its tower was not completed until 1686. That earlier tower was considerably taller than the one visitors see now. The church is thought to have been designed by the Dutch castle-builder Hans Fleming, and its walls were faced in sandstone brought from nearby Trånghalla.

Disaster struck on 6 February 1790, when a great fire swept through Jönköping and destroyed the church, including its tall tower and an organ built by Hans Henrich Cahman in 1683. The building was subsequently restored and largely took the form it has today, though on a more modest scale than before the fire.

Among the church's furnishings is an altarpiece painted in 1738 by the Frenchman Pierre-Jacques Cazes, depicting the Adoration of the Magi. Two further paintings hang on the nave walls: a Crucifixion from 1722 by the church painter Edvard Orm, and a later work of musical angels at Christ's tomb, painted in 1881 by the Jönköping-born artist Georg Pauli. Near the chancel is a gilded sun bearing the Tetragrammaton, its woodwork carved by Bernhard Andersson (Andell), who grew up in the town.

The church's bells carry their own story of destruction and renewal: the great bell cast in 1751 was destroyed in the 1790 fire, and a replacement was cast that same year from the melted metal of its predecessor, complete with a new inscription. A smaller bell was recast in the same way, funded by a local merchant.

Musically, the church is notable for two organs. The gallery organ, built in 1912 by Åkerman & Lund and retaining the case of an 1853 instrument, is considered one of Sweden's best-preserved Romantic organs, with 40 stops across three manuals; it was restored close to its original specification in 2005. A smaller choir organ, built in 2012 by the German organ builder Kristian Wegscheider in a Baroque style, stands in the south chancel.