Gammalkils kyrka

The present church has a long nave with a semicircular chancel to the east and, at the west end, a squat, powerful tower topped with a curved cupola roof rather than a spire. This blunt profile is no accident: when the church was built in 1799–1801 to designs by master builder Eric Fredberg, the parish judged his proposed spire too costly and had the tower shortened, giving it its distinctive stubby finish.

An earlier Romanesque church of grey stone and limestone had stood on the site since the 1100s or 1200s, with a tall stone tower, a narrower chancel later rebuilt, and a north sacristy. Traces of medieval wall paintings, later whitewashed over on the bishop's orders, reportedly survived only as fragmentary lettering in the chancel. A wooden extension was added to the old church in 1734 to accommodate a growing congregation, and further alterations followed through the eighteenth century, including a new pulpit bought in 1735 from carver Niclas Österbom of Norrköping and extensive ceiling paintings by Sven Gustafsson Stoltz of Vadstena in 1751–1752.

Much of the interior seen today dates from the rebuilding around 1801–1803 and reflects the Gustavian taste of the period. The altarpiece, altar rail paintings and gallery front are extensive works attributed to the painter Pehr Hörberg, depicting biblical scenes from the Fall to the Ascension. The pulpit and altar are said to be the work of Carl Fredrik Beurling. Some painted decoration from the old church, including work by Stoltz, was reportedly preserved and reused in the new sacristy ceiling.

Among the church's older treasures are said to be a medieval silver communion chalice and several historic chasubles, including one from the second half of the 1400s with embroidery thought to originate in Cologne, and another from around 1500 associated with the Lübeck region. A small oil painting of the Madonna and Child has been linked to the circle of the Spanish painter Alonzo Cano.

The gallery organ, built by the Linköping organ builder Pehr Schiörlin and completed in the early 1800s, is regarded as one of the finest rural instruments of its time in Sweden, reportedly praised on inspection in 1806 as among the best in the diocese. It has attracted visiting organists over the years, including, according to some accounts, Albert Schweitzer in the twentieth century. In the churchyard stands an old parish tithe barn, and a runestone once kept by the main door of the old church was later moved to the churchyard, where it commemorates a father remembered by his son.