Sjösås gamla kyrka

The church stands on a site with a long succession of buildings. The earliest was probably a stave church erected around the 1100s, later replaced in the 1200s by a timber church, of which the sacristy survives and is considered the oldest surviving part of the present building. Most of the church seen today dates from the later 1400s, when a stone building in the late Gothic hall-church style was constructed, lacking a chancel apse.

A porch was added at the north entrance in 1732, and a major renovation between 1773 and 1775 gave the church much of its current appearance, including the relocation of the porch to a new west-facing entrance. The interior from this period is a particular highlight: a richly painted barrel vault of 1774, decorated with cloud motifs and trumpeting angels by Johan Stendahl and Petter Österberg, arches over the nave, with a crucifixion scene and figures of Moses and the Annunciation on the chancel wall.

Among the furnishings are a number of striking survivals from earlier centuries. These include a 13th-century Calvary group showing Christ on the cross flanked by the Virgin Mary and St John, and relief fragments from a St Olof cabinet dated to the late 1200s. The pulpit, with its sounding board, was donated in 1651 by the councillor of the realm Per Sparre of Lidboholm and was later repainted to match the 1774 scheme. Painted pews from 1639, a women's gallery of 1736 with painted panels of Christ, prophets and apostles, and two west galleries with painted decoration add further layers of decorative history, along with a gallery reserved for the Lidboholm estate and a memorial hatchment to Carl Gustaf Örnecrantz, who died in 1677.

By the 19th century the church was considered too small and cramped, reportedly a view held by Bishop Esaias Tegnér, and a new parish church was built nearby. When it opened in the 1860s, the medieval church was abandoned and left to decay. It was saved from ruin partly through the efforts of the local heritage society, and a thorough restoration in 1943–1944, led by architect Paul Boberg, brought the building back into use for worship.

The church has no tower, and its bells have historically hung in a separate wooden bell-frame; a new frame was erected in 1931. A mechanical organ built by the Danish firm Marcussen & Søn was installed in 1958.