Gillberga kyrka

The medieval church consisted of a rectangular nave with a narrower, lower chancel ending in an apse to the east. Sections of these original stone walls survive within the present building, though heavily altered over the centuries. The limestone used was reportedly quarried at Kinnekulle and transported across Vänern and the Gillbergasjön to the church site.

The church's appearance today owes much to a major rebuilding of 1731–33, when the nave was extended some 13 metres westward under master mason Christian Haller. This work demolished the original chancel arch, and a wooden screen was later added between the chancel and apse, behind which a sacristy was formed. An earlier tower, raised between 1699 and 1718, had to be demolished around 1730 owing to poor foundations, and was replaced by a temporary bell frame in the churchyard before the present west tower with its lantern was built in 1837–40.

A thorough restoration in 1887 altered much of the church's older character, replacing box pews with open benches and re-panelling the ceiling. A further restoration in 1940–41, led by architect Einar Lundberg, aimed to reverse some of these Victorian-era changes, removing the tongue-and-groove ceiling panelling and restoring a closed altar rail in an earlier style.

Among the church's furnishings, the two-tiered altarpiece with its crucifixion scene was donated in 1665 by Major Sven Persson Hildring and his wife Margareta Roos af Hjälmsäter. The pulpit, carved in 1736 by Nils Falk, was painted some years later by Hans Georg Schüffner. Fragments of two older medieval soapstone font bowls are also kept in the church, alongside a font designed by Lundberg during the 1941 restoration.

The church's most notable treasure is its small bell, generally dated to the 1200s or possibly the later 1100s, making it one of the oldest bells still in use in Sweden. The church stands at the edge of a prehistoric burial ground, a siting shared by many early Christian churches built at older, established central places.