Skeda kyrka

The earliest church here was built in Romanesque style during the first half of the 1200s. Over the following centuries it was substantially altered: the building was extended westward in the 1300s, a sacristy was added on the north side in the early 1400s, and by the late Middle Ages the church had been widened to the north and converted into a hall church with vaulted ceilings and two aisles. A tower was added in the 1750s by master builder Petter Frimodig.

The most sweeping change came in 1794, when the church underwent a thorough rebuilding. The medieval vaults were replaced with a continuous wooden barrel vault, the windows were enlarged, and a new sacristy replaced the earlier one, while the south porch was demolished. Despite this transformation, much of the older stonework survives within the present walls, and a restoration in 1964 uncovered sections of the original Romanesque church, including most of the south nave wall together with parts of an elegant early portal, suggesting the first stone church dates from the early 1200s.

That same 1964 restoration revealed fragments of an unusual medieval wall painting on the south wall, depicting a Gothic trefoil arch with a seated man and standing angel, alongside two fantastical creatures in the foreground. The painting is thought to date from around 1300 and bears a resemblance to work found in Tidersrum church, though it survives only in part.

Among the furnishings, the altarpiece and altar rail date from the 1794 rebuilding; the reredos was designed by the painter Pehr Hörberg, who also completed the altar painting in 1796 depicting the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth. The current pulpit was carved in 1812 by Anders Malmström of Norra Vi, replacing an earlier one from 1683. A font bowl dating from the 1200s rests on a base made in 1964, while a separate limestone font in the choir was purchased from Vadstena in 1701.

The church has had a succession of organs, with records of an instrument as early as 1683 and further organs built in 1777 and 1877, the latter by Marcussen & Søn, still the main organ today. A new chancel organ was installed in 2024. The tower holds two bells, cast in 1695 and 1780.