Stala kyrka

An earlier church on the site was long believed to date from the mid-1600s, though it may in fact have been built as early as the 1200s. By the 19th century this older building was considered too small and had fallen into disrepair, so a new church was constructed between 1876 and 1878 on a site about 35 metres to the east. The design closely resembles that of Lane-Ryrs kyrka, built shortly before, and is attributed to S Andersson of Uddevalla. Sources differ slightly on the completion date: a first service was reportedly held in September 1877, but the church was not formally consecrated until 1878 or the summer of 1879, depending on the account.

The church has a rectangular nave with a three-sided chancel to the east and a square west tower topped with a pyramid roof. Round-arched windows and frieze mouldings decorate the exterior walls, and the west portal beneath the tower is crowned with a gable. Inside, a barrel-vaulted ceiling, white walls and light-coloured pews give the interior a plain, airy character. The roof has changed materials over time: originally wooden shingles, it was replaced with folded sheet metal in 1913 and then covered with tile in 1996.

The altarpiece, painted in 1878 by Carl Nordström, is a copy of a work in Jakobs kyrka in Stockholm depicting the Transfiguration of Christ. Two pulpits can be seen: an older Baroque example from the previous church, dated variously to 1634 or 1645, decorated with painted panels of the Evangelists carrying Danish text, and the newer white-and-gilt pine pulpit made for the present church in 1877, carved with symbols including the tablets of the law, the cross, the anchor and a flaming heart.　

The font is the church's oldest furnishing, carved from soapstone in the mid-1200s and considered unusual in its style for the wider region. Its basin is largely unornamented, but the base has a fluted shaft and relief carving. Above it hangs a votive ship in the form of a Dutch pinnace, probably dating from the 1600s, which was donated to a Gothenburg museum in the 1870s before being placed on loan at Stala kyrka in the late 1960s.

Two bells hang in the tower: a smaller one, inscribed as cast in 1609 in Stralsund, which came from the earlier church, and a larger bell cast in 1877 at a Gothenburg engineering works. The church's organ retains its 1883 façade, designed by Gustaf Dahl and built by Salomon Molander, though the instrument itself was rebuilt in the 1970s, incorporating some of the original pipework.