Othems kyrka

The present church was begun in the 13th century, replacing an earlier stone church of around 1200, traces of which survive in a blocked Romanesque doorway in the north wall and a weathered font, possibly the work of the stonemason Sighraf. The square nave, with four bays supported on a central round pillar, was built around the mid-13th century, and its decoration is said to recall work attributed to the Gotlandic master builder Lafrans Botvidarsson at Hellvi church, suggesting he may have worked here too. The chancel and tower followed shortly after, and by around 1265 the building and its earliest paintings were largely complete.

The church is notable for several layers of medieval murals. Vault paintings from the 1240s show the tree of life and symbolic scenes of souls threatened by evil in the guise of hunters and a dragon, watched over by a figure of Christ. Around 1330 an accomplished unnamed artist painted a Madonna and Child on the triumphal arch, admired as unusually fine work. Around the turn of the following century, a painter known as the "Othem Master" added depictions of Christ enthroned among his apostles and, flanking the altar, figures identified as St Paul and St Dionysius, possibly the church's patron saint.

These paintings were whitewashed over in 1693, when a sandstone altarpiece depicting the Crucifixion was installed; this altarpiece still dominates the chancel. The 18th century brought a pulpit with sound canopy and new pews, and in 1776 the gallery front was painted with the four evangelists and a scene of the young Jesus in the Temple, by the church painter Johan Nicolaus Weller.

A serious fire in March 1908 destroyed the timber roof structures over the tower, nave and chancel, and the bell cracked as it fell, though most fittings, including the church silver and old documents, were saved. When the roof was rebuilt the following year, restorers took the opportunity to uncover the medieval paintings hidden since 1693. Further restoration followed in 1952 under the architect Erik Fant, and again around 2000.

Other notable furnishings include a triumphal crucifix showing the "victorious Christ", medieval gravestones with runic inscriptions beside the altar, and a modern wood carving of the Madonna and Child by the sculptor Bertil Nyström of Slite. The church organ, built in 1854 by Anders Vilhelm Lindgren, retains its original façade despite later rebuilding of the mechanism.