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Mårdaklevs kyrka

Address
Mårdaklevs kyrka
Municipality
Svenljunga Kommun
Denomination
Church of Sweden
Associated diocese
Diocese of Göteborg

Mårdaklevs kyrka stands on a hillside above the Ätran river in Västergötland. Its medieval font suggests a church has existed here for at least 800 years, though the present wooden building dates from the 1870s and replaced an earlier 17th-century structure.



A church built on this site in 1688 was clad in wooden shingles and painted red. It had painted ceiling decorations, of which only a few boards survive today, kept at the local heritage museum. By the mid-19th century this building was judged dilapidated, and rather than repair it, the parish built an entirely new church, completed in 1875–1876 to designs by the architect Johan Fredrik Åbom.

The new church is a rectangular timber building with an attached sacristy to the east and a tower to the west. Its originally pointed windows were altered during later work, and between 1935 and 1938 it underwent a substantial renovation. Around the turn of the 20th century, under Figge Wetterqvist, the interior was reworked into a three-aisled space with double rows of pillars and a new roof structure.

Several furnishings were carried over from the earlier churches. The sandstone font is the oldest object, carved from a single block in the late 12th or early 13th century and decorated with zigzag ornament, ring-chain motifs and plaited bands; it belongs to a recognisable group of fonts found in southern Västergötland, though it has suffered considerable damage over the centuries.

The altarpiece, showing Christ on the cross, was made in the Netherlands in the 17th century and came to the church as a donation; one account attributes it to a Dutch master working after Rembrandt, and associates its gift with a privateer captain named Hedenberg, though such family attributions are difficult to verify independently. It sits within a richly carved altarpiece surround made in 1804 by Sven Nilsson Morin, a former farmhand who became a noted woodcarver and also produced the pulpit and a pair of painted pews still in use.

Other notable furnishings include a brass baptismal bowl dated 1612 and two bells, the larger cast in 1789 by Jonas Magnus Fries of Jönköping and bearing a lengthy inscription. The church's organ, built in 1948 by the Lindegren workshop, retains the façade of an earlier 1878 instrument.

Opening hours

Opening hours have not been confirmed for the current date. This does not mean the church is closed.

Check access with the parish before travelling. Services and seasonal changes can affect visits.

Kindaholms församling

Mårdaklevs kyrka

Mårdaklevs kyrka stands on a hillside above the Ätran river in Västergötland. Its medieval font suggests a church has existed here for at least 800 years, though the present wooden building dates from the 1870s and replaced an earlier 17th-century structure.

Mårdaklevs kyrka

Explore this church: Mårdaklevs kyrka

Church information: Svenska kyrkan, Platser · CC BY 4.0. Each church page includes its credits and visiting notes.

Other churches in the same diocese

Basic listing

Buråskyrkan

Buråskyrkan is a district church in Johannebergs församling in the Krokslätt district of Gothenburg. A simpler, barrack-type church was originally built in the vicinity in 1949 with support from Göteborgs småkyrkostiftelse. It was replaced in…

Burås Kyrkbacke 1, 412 62, Göteborg

View church details: Buråskyrkan
Basic listing

Gunnarps kyrka

Gunnarp Church, one of the few timber churches in Halland, was built in 1755–1756, replacing an earlier church that had been destroyed by fire in the summer of 1753. Inside, the church is richly decorated…

Gunnarp 201, 311 51, Ätran

View church details: Gunnarps kyrka

Sources & credits

Provider catalogue data: Svenska kyrkan, Platser, CC BY 4.0. Separately credited descriptions retain their stated source and licence terms. Catalogue and visiting data reformatted from the provider. The English guide combines and abridges separately credited sources below.

Provider record updated: 13 Sep 2023. This is not an independent verification date.

Source record: 2467a9a9-9ea9-4bf2-8467-dfe676d79b69

Guide sources

This English guide combines, abridges and translates the sources below with AI assistance, with editorial contributions by Churches in Sweden. It has not been independently verified. The adapted guide text is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Photographs and map data have their own terms.

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Church data retrieved 24 Sep 2026. Visiting details have not been independently verified.

Sources, licences & reuse

Independent guide

Churches in Sweden is an independent guide. It is not an official Svenska kyrkan website and does not imply sponsorship or endorsement.

Church information

Source: Svenska kyrkan — Platser, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. English adaptations by Churches in Sweden are identified on each profile. Our adaptations solely from Platser are offered under CC BY 4.0. Guides combining Wikipedia with other compatible sources are identified individually and offered under CC BY-SA 4.0; this covers that guide text, not the whole website. Separately credited third-party material retains its stated terms. Independently written descriptions are identified on their profiles. Imported material has not been independently verified. Original names and visiting details are retained; presentation is reformatted. Each profile identifies its source record and any additional supplied credits.

You may reuse the licensed church material under CC BY 4.0, including commercially, with the required attribution, licence link and indication of changes. No additional site restriction overrides those rights. The licence does not automatically cover separately credited images or map data.

Provider disclaimer

Svenska kyrkan supplies Platser data without guaranteeing that it is correct, current, complete across its organisation, or always available. The material is provided as-is and as-available, subject to the licence’s disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability.

Svenska kyrkan kan ej garantera att den data som finns i Platser:
– är korrekt.
– är aktuell.
– är komplett för hela Svenska kyrkans organisation.
– alltid är tillgänglig.

Preserved provider agreement · Full licence

Automatic diocese associations use the organisation codes from Svenska kyrkan UnitAPI. An association does not establish ownership or denomination. External editorial sources are credited separately.

Map and photographs

Map data: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL and © OpenMapTiles. Tiles and style are served by World Class Maps. Map rendering uses MapLibre GL JS. The map’s own attribution remains visible.

Photographs are credited individually with their own licence or permission. The API data licence does not automatically cover photographs. No images are imported automatically.