Bjurbäcks kyrka

The original chapel on this site was built in 1656 and extended over the following century, gaining a porch, a sacristy and, in 1785, a lengthened chancel. By the 1890s the old building was deemed beyond simple repair, and after debate the parish decided to build anew; the old chapel and its bell tower were demolished in 1897.

The present church, built entirely of timber between 1897 and 1899, was designed in a neo-Gothic style. The commission first went to architect Fredrik Sundbärg, but his design was rejected by the parish; the project passed instead to Johan Viktor Zelander, an estate manager at Ryfors ironworks, with drawings later refined by the architect Thor Thorén. The Sager family, owners of Ryfors, guaranteed the funding and made gifts at the consecration on 23 July 1899.

The church is a cross-shaped building with a rectangular nave, an eastern chancel and sacristy, and transepts to north and south. A slender spired tower stands to the south-west, resembling a freestanding bell-frame joined to the church. The lower walls are clad in horizontal panelling and the upper sections in wooden shingles, beneath slate roofs. Inside, the pine panelling has been oiled and varnished to give the interior a warm golden-brown tone, and the exterior retains its original colour scheme of white or pale grey walls, English red window surrounds and pale oak doors with black ironwork.

Several furnishings were carried over from the old chapel. The altarpiece and pulpit, carved in the 1730s by Jonas Larsson Elfvenberg, survive alongside a wooden chandelier bought in 1723 and a floor clock from 1773. Most distinctive is the small carved 'baptismal angel', also from the 1730s, which is still lowered from the ceiling during baptisms together with the christening bowl — a rare and much-noted feature among Swedish village churches. The smaller of the two bells is thought to date from the late medieval period, though it bears no inscription to confirm this.

The organ was built in 1899 by Johannes Magnussons orgelverkstad, with its original façade still in place; it was later renovated and enlarged in the 1970s.