Rackeby kyrka stands on the Kålland peninsula, roughly twelve kilometres northwest of Lidköping, within Sunnersberg parish. Its origins reach back to the twelfth century, and the building retains a striking mixture of Romanesque stonework and later alterations.
The original Romanesque church was built in the 1100s from hewn sandstone, and its rectangular nave survives from that period. It originally had a smaller chancel and apse with a flat interior ceiling; several of the apse's curved plinth stones can still be seen in the churchyard today. The south portal remains in its original position, and the high altar, made of dressed sandstone with a relic cavity, is thought to date from the time of construction.
The west tower was added in grey stone during the late medieval period and sits somewhat awkwardly atop the nave's brick gable, with its slender spire only added in the eighteenth century. A significant remodelling in 1699 saw the chancel demolished and the nave extended to its present length; traces of the collapsed medieval vaults can still be seen on the interior walls, and the windows were enlarged at this time, with the vaulted ceiling replaced by a flat wooden one. The sacristy was built in 1683, originally serving as a burial chapel for the Bonde family.
A further restoration in 1913 removed the porch and burial chapel as the existing sacristy was extended, and most of the current furnishings date from this period. Little now survives of the decorative ceiling painted in 1733 by local artist Petter Wernberg beyond fragments of a gallery front. Notable furnishings include a Baroque altarpiece donated by the Bonde family in 1706 and a pulpit from 1686 in the same style.
The church bells offer a glimpse of considerably older history: the larger bell was cast in 1449, though recast in 1687, while the smaller bell is of a thirteenth-century type without inscriptions. The organ, built in 1990, incorporates the sounding facade and some pipework from an earlier 1913 instrument by the same workshop.
The churchyard is of particular interest, containing a runestone (Vg 37) once built into the church walls, along with fragments of medieval memorial stones and an old parish granary. It is also the burial place of Edward Nonnen, a leading figure in nineteenth-century Swedish agricultural reform, who founded Sweden's first agricultural institute at the nearby Degeberg manor.
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Sunnersbergs församling
Sunnersbergs församling
Rackeby kyrka stands on the Kålland peninsula, roughly twelve kilometres northwest of Lidköping, within Sunnersberg parish. Its origins reach back to the twelfth century, and the building retains a striking mixture of Romanesque stonework and later alterations.
Församlingsexpeditionen, Gamla Läckövägen 43, 53155, Lidköping
Explore this church: Rackeby kyrkaChurch information: Svenska kyrkan, Platser · CC BY 4.0. Each church page includes its credits and visiting notes.
Location and available visiting information. A fuller English guide is still to be added.
Kockgårdsgatan 6, 53141, LIDKÖPING
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View church details: Angerdshestra 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: 28 May 2026. This is not an independent verification date.
Source record: e4eca275-4179-43ca-9e78-9e84b74b1e2a
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.