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Älmeboda kyrka

Address
Gamla vägen 9, 36298, Älmeboda
Municipality
Tingsryds Kommun
Denomination
Church of Sweden
Associated diocese
Diocese of Växjö

Älmeboda kyrka is a parish church at Rävemåla in Tingsryd Municipality, Kronoberg County, serving Älmeboda parish within the Diocese of Växjö. It replaced an older medieval church whose ruined remains still stand elsewhere in the parish.



The present stone church was built in 1876–77 to designs by the architect Ludvig Hedin, replacing a medieval church some distance to the north that had become dilapidated and too small for the growing congregation. Disagreement over the choice of site delayed the project for years before Rävemåla was finally agreed upon; once the new building was finished, the old church was abandoned and gradually fell into ruin.

The church is built in a historicising mixed style, oriented north–south with the tower and main entrance to the north and the chancel and sacristy to the south. The tower has round-arched, Romanesque-style openings, a clock, and a tall neo-Gothic spire topped with a cross. Inside, the three-aisled nave has a barrel vault over the central aisle and coffered ceilings in the side aisles. It was consecrated on 19 September 1877 by Bishop Henrik Gustaf Hultman.

Among the furnishings, a triumphal crucifix believed to date from the 15th century, thought to be of North German workmanship, was brought from the old medieval church and now hangs in a lit recess above the altarpiece, which was painted in 1892 by the church painter Ludvig Frid of Skede. The pulpit retains its sounding board, and an hourglass dated 1719, decorated with an angel holding a scythe and hourglass, survives among the older fittings. Two fonts are preserved: a carved elm font in the chancel and a stone font in the baptismal chapel, alongside a glass altar cross made at the Lindshammar glassworks.

Of the church's three bells, the largest carries no inscription, the middle bell was cast in 1751 by Andreas Wetterholtz of Malmö, and the smallest dates from 1684, making it the oldest surviving object directly linked to worship on the site.

The church organ has a layered history: an original instrument of 13 stops was built in 1758 by Jonas Wistenius of Linköping, replaced in 1881 by a 22-stop organ by Carl August Johansson of Hovmantorp, then rebuilt in 1933 by Mårtensson's organ workshop in Lund behind the 1881 façade. A further rebuild in 1990–91 by Åkerman & Lund Orgelbyggeri in Knivsta sought to recreate elements of the earlier instrument, and the organ today has 25 stops.

According to local tradition connected to the abandoned medieval church, its old elm font was said to have been carved from the very tree that gave the village its former name, Elmeboda, and wooden staves once kept there were said to have been used in a legendary army led by the folk heroine Blenda; both objects have since disappeared, and the stories should be treated as local legend rather than established fact.

Opening hours

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Check access with the parish before travelling. Services and seasonal changes can affect visits.

Facilities & accessibility

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Listed by the provider; availability has not been independently checked. An unlisted facility is not necessarily unavailable.

Älmeboda församling

Älmeboda kyrka

Älmeboda kyrka is a parish church at Rävemåla in Tingsryd Municipality, Kronoberg County, serving Älmeboda parish within the Diocese of Växjö. It replaced an older medieval church whose ruined remains still stand elsewhere in the parish.

Gamla vägen 9, 36298, Älmeboda

Explore this church: Älmeboda kyrka

Church information: Svenska kyrkan, Platser · CC BY 4.0. Each church page includes its credits and visiting notes.

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Sources & credits

Provider catalogue data: Svenska kyrkan, Platser, CC BY 4.0. Separately credited descriptions retain their stated source and licence terms. Catalogue and visiting data reformatted from the provider. The English guide combines and abridges separately credited sources below.

Provider record updated: 20 Sep 2023. This is not an independent verification date.

Source record: 0de21747-0318-4003-99c6-282de6489d56

Guide sources

This English guide combines, abridges and translates the sources below with AI assistance, with editorial contributions by Churches in Sweden. It has not been independently verified. The adapted guide text is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Photographs and map data have their own terms.

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Church data retrieved 24 Sep 2026. Visiting details have not been independently verified.

Sources, licences & reuse

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Church information

Source: Svenska kyrkan — Platser, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. English adaptations by Churches in Sweden are identified on each profile. Our adaptations solely from Platser are offered under CC BY 4.0. Guides combining Wikipedia with other compatible sources are identified individually and offered under CC BY-SA 4.0; this covers that guide text, not the whole website. Separately credited third-party material retains its stated terms. Independently written descriptions are identified on their profiles. Imported material has not been independently verified. Original names and visiting details are retained; presentation is reformatted. Each profile identifies its source record and any additional supplied credits.

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Provider disclaimer

Svenska kyrkan supplies Platser data without guaranteeing that it is correct, current, complete across its organisation, or always available. The material is provided as-is and as-available, subject to the licence’s disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability.

Svenska kyrkan kan ej garantera att den data som finns i Platser:
– är korrekt.
– är aktuell.
– är komplett för hela Svenska kyrkans organisation.
– alltid är tillgänglig.

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Map and photographs

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