Skivarps kyrka

The church began as a small, simple building without tower or vaults. A sturdy stepped-gable tower was added to the west in the fourteenth century, later serving variously as a lookout, a defensive structure and a landmark for sailors. The vaults followed in the fifteenth century. Over the following centuries the church was extended: a north transept was created in the eighteenth century and enlarged in the 1850s, while a south transept replaced the old porch. Restoration in 1934 uncovered painted decoration in the vaults, and further conservation work took place in 1997.

The vault paintings are the church's chief attraction. They are attributed to the so-called Skivarp Master, a group of painters active around Skurup who worked in a number of Skåne churches, recognisable for their acanthus scrolls, four-pointed trefoil stars and mushroom-like trees thought to represent palms. The nave includes a depiction of Christ as judge of the world, with a sword and lily issuing from his mouth and figures of Mary and John at his sides, alongside a Nativity scene. The chancel vault shows the Danish saint Knut, a reminder that the church lay under Danish rule for its first centuries. The paintings were later whitewashed over, rediscovered in the 1890s and fully uncovered again in the mid-twentieth century.

The carved oak altarpiece, richly coloured and gilded, is generally dated to the seventeenth century, and its two oil paintings—showing Christ at Gethsemane and the Ascension—were added in the eighteenth century. An earlier altarpiece now hangs in the north transept. A curious episode involves a supposed relic once kept in the altar, believed for a long time to be a bone from the Virgin Mary's hand; when examined, one source records it as the hind foot of a seal, while another account describes bones found beneath the altar in the 1850s that were similarly identified. The pulpit, decorated with images of the evangelists, also dates from the seventeenth century.

Other notable furnishings include a pewter dish in the font, donated in 1635, and a royal coat of arms bearing the monogram of Charles XII, hung in the north transept in 1698 as a symbol of Sweden's authority over a formerly Danish region. The stained-glass windows, made in the 1930s and 1940s by the Blekinge artist Gunnar Torhamn, were funded by local donors. One source notes that the medieval limestone font itself no longer stands in the church but is held at the Historical Museum in Lund.