Möne kyrka stands on a hilltop in the northern part of Ulricehamns kommun, its slender tower visible for miles across the surrounding countryside. This is the third church known to have occupied the site, built after its predecessor was destroyed by fire in the 1940s.
A church has stood on this hill since early medieval times, and a papal indulgence letter issued by the Bishop of Skara in the 1400s attests to the site's long-standing religious significance. That first church was replaced in 1847 by a new building, which in turn burned down, reportedly to its foundations, in a fire that began in the tower during the night before Easter Sunday. Sources differ slightly on the exact year of this fire, with one giving 1947.
The present church, designed by architect Ärland Noreen, was consecrated in 1951. Built of granite with a facade combining natural stone, brick and render, it has an unusually placed tower on the south-western side, with the entrance facing south, and a sacristy added at the north-east corner. The building is often cited as a favourite example of Swedish 1950s church architecture, admired for its slender, cool profile. On a clear day, it is said that as many as fourteen other church towers can be glimpsed from the hill, though this claim is impossible to verify.
Inside, the church is light and airy, with a traditional, largely timeless interior whose barock-inspired fittings give little away about its true, mid-twentieth-century age. Five angled windows along the nave, together with a round skylight, create a gentle, even light. A five-sided altar rail encloses the altar and altarpiece.
The altarpiece, carved in limewood by the sculptor Folke Andersson of Täby around 1954, depicts Christ as the Good Shepherd, shown caring for people through the different stages of life from childhood to old age. Its style and technique are, by some accounts, the clearest sign of the decade in which the church was built. The pulpit carries grisaille paintings of the four evangelists set against a gold background within an iron-oxide red frame.
Several older furnishings survived the fire because the sacristy stood at the opposite end of the building from where the blaze began. These include a chandelier and a pair of light stands, said to date from the 1600s, along with two wooden vases now placed either side of the altar; the chandelier was later restored by a foundry in Skara. The organ destroyed in the fire had been built in 1923; its replacement, a pneumatic instrument installed in 1952 and later renovated, still serves the church today.
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Ulricehamns pastorat
Ulricehamns pastorat
Möne kyrka stands on a hilltop in the northern part of Ulricehamns kommun, its slender tower visible for miles across the surrounding countryside. This is the third church known to have occupied the site, built after its predecessor was destroyed by fire in the 1940s.
520 24, Blidsberg
Explore this church: Möne kyrkaChurch information: Svenska kyrkan, Platser · CC BY 4.0. Each church page includes its credits and visiting notes.
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Församlingsexpeditionen, Gamla Läckövägen 43, 53155, Lidköping
View church details: Sunnersbergs kyrkaSources, credits and English adaptations are identified on each church page. Provider data: Svenska kyrkan, Platser · CC BY 4.0.
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 May 2025. This is not an independent verification date.
Source record: 01171c52-d461-43b2-bb58-3a2b8f5b24a0
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.