Skärkinds kyrka

The original stone church at Skärkind dated back to the 1100s, with a nave, chancel and a sturdy western tower. Rebuilt and vaulted in the 1400s, it was extended further in later centuries, but by the early 1800s it could no longer accommodate the parish. In 1829 plans were commissioned from Major Justus Weinberg, an architect associated with several neoclassical Swedish churches, and building work was carried out from 1835 by Abraham Nyström, a master builder from Hållingstorp. The new church, in a cross-shaped neoclassical style recalling Gothenburg Cathedral, was completed in 1836, standing a short distance south of the old building.

The medieval chancel was retained and has served since 1844 as a burial chapel, preserving several older fittings. In 1906 lightning struck the new church, destroying its tower, bells and organ, though the walls survived. The architect Erik Lallerstedt was engaged to rebuild it, and in doing so transformed the plain Empire-style church into a richly decorated Art Nouveau interior, reportedly incorporating over a thousand painted rose motifs. A further interior restoration took place in 1965, when a small chapel space for confirmation classes was created beneath one of the galleries.

The altar today is dominated by a carved wooden altarpiece made in Antwerp around 1500, brought into the church after the fire. The font is of limestone, a gift from Joachim Siwers in 1679, while an older stone font and a fifteenth-century Maria shrine remain in the burial chapel. The current organ was built in 1899 by E. A. Setterquist & Son with 14 stops, though it too was damaged in the 1906 fire and later repaired.

The churchyard is unusual: raised above the surrounding land on a walled platform, with everything laid out in strikingly straight lines, giving the small burial chapel at its centre an almost geometric, sculptural appearance. Inside the chapel, alongside the medieval font and Maria shrine, stands a carved chair traditionally said to have belonged to Bishop Hans Brask, though its true age is uncertain. A curious relic, a large rib bone once said to belong to a giantess known as "Jungfru Skära", has since been identified as coming from a killer whale.

Near the old church stand two runestones, one of which is considered especially old, inscribed in the early runic alphabet and interpreted as bearing a personal name. Fragments of further runestones are kept nearby, testament to the site's long history of use.