Harakers kyrka

Archaeological investigation in 2014 found traces of an earlier church a little west of the present building, including stone footings for a small chancel. Given a surviving font dated to around 1200, this earlier church may date from that period, though its full construction material could not be established. Sources disagree on when the present church was built: older texts commonly cite the 1300s, but more recent archaeological study suggests it was actually erected in the second half of the 1400s, replacing the earlier building entirely.

The church took its current external form during a major rebuilding in the 1790s, when architect Per Wilhelm Palmroth's design extended the nave westward and gave the tower its lantern top, replacing a tall medieval spire said to have echoed Västerås Cathedral. Further changes in 1935–1936 shaped much of the interior seen today, including new flooring, remodelled pews based on eighteenth-century originals, and the uncovering and conservation of wall paintings.

Those paintings, in black and red, date from 1618 and were commissioned by Ebba Brahe and Jakob De la Gardie, owners of nearby Svanå estate, the same year they married. Later whitewashed over, they were rediscovered and conserved in the 1930s and cleaned again in 1974. Alongside biblical scenes, they are said to include what is claimed to be the oldest known depiction of Martin Luther, together with Philipp Melanchthon, in a Swedish church interior.',

The church holds a notable collection of medieval wooden sculpture, including a figure of Saint Olof standing on a troll from the early 1300s, a mid-fourteenth-century triumphal crucifix, and a two-foot-high crowned Madonna known as the Rosenkransmadonnan, missing a hand and foot from her original rosary decoration. Other carvings depict Saint Martin dividing his cloak and Saint George fighting the dragon, both on horseback, alongside figures of saints Olof, Erik, John the Baptist and Birgitta thought to come from lost altar cabinets.

Local tradition also links the site to two medieval battles fought nearby, in 1437 and 1464, with one legend claiming the church was built using war spoils; this remains a story rather than a documented fact. The mechanical organ, built in 1830 and restored in 1967, is notable for its unusual layout, with pipework grouped on either side of the console rather than in a single case.