Lista kyrka

The oldest parts of Lista kyrka date from the 12th century, though the building has been substantially reworked since. It was later extended westwards with a new chancel and porch, and vaulting was likely added in the early 1500s; timber corbels surviving in the roof space suggest an older 13th-century wooden ceiling once stood here. Two burial chapels were added in the 17th century — one for the Ridding family of Vargarn in 1646, and one to the east for the Pauli family of Vingsleör around 1660. The Pauli chapel served briefly as a burial space before the altar was moved into it in 1688, once the screen between chancel and nave was removed; the chancel floor, then noticeably higher than the rest of the church, was lowered again in 1821.

The church's foundations proved unstable, and by 1831 the building was in such poor repair that a national collection was granted for restoration — though work did not actually begin until 1893. Further changes followed: a heating chamber was built on the north side in 1926, and the interior was thoroughly restored in 1934. The plan today comprises an elongated nave, a three-sided chancel to the east, a sacristy to the north, and the burial chapels and porch to the south. The Ribbing family's burial chapel on the south side is now used as a gallery.

In the porch stands a runestone fragment carved with Urnes-style interlace but no legible inscription, thought possibly to be part of an Eskilstuna-type stone coffin; it was once built into the wall above the church door before being removed during the 1892–93 restoration. To the west of the church stands a bell tower rebuilt in 1784, though it is thought to be considerably older in origin.

Among the furnishings, the sandstone font dates from the 1100s, making it one of the oldest objects in the church. The altarpiece was painted by Gerda Höglund in 1930. The pulpit, given in 1801 by Carl Erik Ridderhierta of Vargarn, briefly stood above the altar between 1821 and 1893. A small copper-plate painting depicting Christ with Saint Jerome and Saint Catherine is said to be Polish work from around 1600, and three further copper-plate paintings were also donated to the church around 1800 by the same patron.

The church's silver includes a chalice reportedly taken as war booty by Zackarias Pauli in 1626, along with a paten bearing the initials of Zackarias Pauli and Brita Hård, said to have been given to the church in 1660. A wine jug was made in 1804 from silver melted down from an older vessel donated in 1651. A bridal crown of Boliden gold, set with aquamarines, tourmalines and sapphires, was presented to the church in 1939 by a local women's sewing circle.

The church has had several organs over the centuries: one moved here from Gillberga church in the 1700s, likely originally built in the 1500s; a five-stop instrument by Åkerman & Lund in 1876; a thirteen-stop organ by Olof Hammarberg in 1934; and a mechanical organ built by Åkerman & Lund Orgelbyggeri in 1976, which serves the church today.