Åby kyrka

A stone church, probably built in a late Romanesque style, stood here from the early 1200s. It was burned during the Kalmar War in 1611 and later rebuilt, with its tower altered around 1620. Old drawings from the 17th and 18th centuries suggest it had a tall west tower, a nave with chancel and apse, and a porch, with the interior divided into two aisles under cross vaults.

By the 18th century the growing population had made the old church too small, and it also needed extensive repair. Rather than extend it, the parish chose to build entirely anew. The present church was constructed between 1774 and 1776 to designs by the architect Carl Fredric Adelcrantz, with the foundation stone laid in 1774 and the building consecrated in 1776. It is built of rendered and limewashed granite rubble, with a nave under a broken roof and a smaller chancel to the east; the sacristy lies to the north, opposite a burial chapel on the south side associated with the Ulfklou family, sometimes called the Björnö grave. The west tower, housing the main entrance, has pointed sound openings in a Gothic Revival style and was heightened in 1863 with an octagonal lantern and spire.

Inside, the hall-church interior has a barrel vault, and the pews date from the time of construction. The chancel is separated from the nave by two obelisks and lit by colourful stained glass depicting New Testament scenes, added in 1932. The elaborately carved altarpiece, made by Nils Ramsnidare, was acquired for the earlier church in 1648 and later supplemented with a painting of the Crucifixion. The font, carved from red Öland limestone, was donated in 1675 by Colonel Henrik Ulfklou. An earlier altarpiece by Jonas Berggren, showing the Annunciation, now hangs on the south wall, and the church walls display several funerary hatchments, including four from the 1600s belonging to the Ulfklou family.

The church has been renovated several times, notably in 1932, when a new Öland limestone floor was laid and the organ gallery lowered, and again in 1974 and 1997, when the pews were repainted in their original colours and the six roof windows were reopened. The current organ, built in 1961 by Olof Hammarberg of Gothenburg, reuses the façade of an earlier 1850 instrument, reflecting a long history of organ-building at the church stretching back to the 17th century.