Mellösa kyrka

The church's origins are medieval, probably dating to the 1200s, making it one of the older churches in this rural part of Södermanland. A local tradition recorded in a regional history claims the site was chosen after two oxen, hauling a log, lay down at this spot — a charming story rather than a verified historical fact. The sacristy was extended in the first half of the 1400s, and in the 1660s the nave was widened to its present dimensions.

The church now presents a rectangular medieval nave with a polygonal chancel to the east, added in 1761 following a private donation, and containing a burial vault. The most prominent later addition is the west tower, built in 1874–75 in a neo-classical Gothic style to designs by the architect Johan Fredrik Åbom, standing some 38.6 metres high with a spire of about 15 metres, topped by a gilded cross. The tower and a new organ were reportedly inaugurated together in December 1875. The rubble-stone foundations, smoothly rendered walls, and cast-iron window frames — made at the nearby Hälleforsnäs foundry — give the exterior its distinctive character.

Inside, the nave is covered by cross vaults dating from the 1660s, decorated with murals of which substantial portions survive. The pulpit is from the same period, donated to the church in 1666, though its staircase was renewed in 1889; an earlier medieval pulpit from the 1400s was moved to Tunabergs kyrka. The altarpiece and two wrought sheet-metal candle stands on the chancel pillars date from the 1700s.

Among the church's furnishings, the font is the oldest object, its bowl carved from sandstone in the 1100s with interlaced ring ornament, although the base is a later reconstruction by the sculptor Victor Lindborg after designs by the architect Otar Hökerberg. Other notable items include a gilded paten from the 1300s, a gilded communion vessel with a medieval mid-section, medieval and 17th-century iron crowns hanging beneath the gallery, and an altar crucifix believed to derive from a Russian processional cross of the 1600s or 1700s.

The current organ was built in 1981 by Grönlunds Orgelbyggeri; an earlier instrument by E. A. Setterquist & Son of Örebro, installed in 1875 alongside the new tower, has since been replaced.