Dikanäs kyrka

In the early 1800s, settlers and an increasing number of resident Sami in the Vojmådalen valley faced a long journey to worship: over 100 kilometres to the parish church in Vilhelmina, or a difficult route over the mountains to the chapel at Fatmomakke. Their pleas led a local pastor to petition church authorities, and in 1829 permission was granted to build a chapel at Dikanäs. It was raised in timber during the summer of 1832 and completed the following spring, most likely being consecrated that same summer. For decades it was used mainly in summer, with a permanent preacher established only in 1901 and full curacy status from 1923.

The original building was simple and traditional: a timbered nave, a western tower of three diminishing cubic stages topped with a tent roof, and an asymmetrical sacristy to the east, the roof originally covered with birch bark and wood. The exterior and layout have changed considerably since. Around 1890 the church was clad in panelling, and a thorough restoration in 1932–34 under architect Karl Martin Westerberg reshaped much of what visitors see today: the old sacristy was removed, the east window blocked, a new wider chancel added, and the entrance moved to a new south porch. The colour scheme also changed repeatedly over the years, from unpainted timber to red, ochre and white.

A further restoration in 1983, led by architect Bengt Lidström, partly reversed these changes, returning the main entrance to the west end, converting the chancel back into a sacristy, and restoring the pulpit to its original position on the north wall. The interior fittings were altered too: the altarpiece, pews and altar rail installed in the 1930s were later adjusted, and the church was repainted using egg-oil tempera.',

Inside, the altarpiece depicting Christ as the Good Shepherd was painted by Torsten Nordberg in the 1930s; an earlier altarpiece by J. Meurk is now kept in the sacristy. The pulpit, dated 1786, is said by tradition to have come originally from Åsele church. Among the more personal objects is a tin model of the steamboat m/s Vojmsjön, which carried passengers, timber and goods on the lake from 1911 until the early 1940s, when a road finally reached Dikanäs; the model was later given to the church by the boat captain's family.

The church holds two bells of note: a small bell cast in 1843, rung for the thanksgiving prayer, and, in the tower, what is described as the oldest church bell in Swedish Lappland, cast in 1647 and said to have been a gift from Queen Kristina to the first church in Åsele. The churchyard, with its birches, pines and spruces, contains simple older gravestones and a timbered mortuary house from 1874, still painted in traditional Falun red and now used as a storage shed.