Smedby kyrka stands on southern Öland, at a point where the flat alvar landscape to the east gives way to farmland running down towards Kalmarsund in the west. A small village grew up around the church, with a school and vicarage nearby.
A Romanesque stone church, built as a defensive structure, stood on this site from the 12th century. It attracted the attention of the naturalist Carl von Linné during his tour of Öland in 1741, and it was, according to one source, the only Öländ church he took particular interest in, recording its plan and describing its interior. That medieval building was demolished entirely in 1851, and the present neoclassical church was built slightly to the north of the old site, completed in 1853. It was constructed by master builder Peter Isberg, freely following a design by Johan Adolf Hawerman.
The church is a hall church with a narrower, straight-ended chancel to the east, a five-sided sacristy, and a lantern-topped tower to the west. Round-arched window openings punctuate the whitewashed walls. Originally there were entrances on both the west and south sides, but the south doorway was walled up in 1952, when the interior underwent substantial alteration under architect Ärland Noreen: a barrel vault and two flanking side rooms were added around the altar, separating the chancel from the rest of the nave, and a five-sided timber vault was installed over the ceiling.
Several fittings survive from the earlier medieval church. The pulpit, dated 1698 and probably carved by Anders Colleur, stands on the north wall, later given ornamentation by Anders Georg Wadsten in 1783. Below the chancel is a medieval limestone font attributed to a carver known as Calcarius, thought to be Gotland workmanship from the first half of the 13th century. Wooden sculptures by Anders Dahlström the elder, dating from 1755, are placed around the nave.
One of the more distinctive features for visitors is the votive ship hanging in front of the gallery — a model of the bark Refanut, said to have been donated in 1956 — a reminder of the maritime life of this Kalmarsund coastline. The altarpiece includes a painting of the Resurrection by Axel Smith, added in 1958. The church also has a small pipe organ built in 1896 by the Örebro firm E. A. Setterquist & Son, later altered and renovated in the twentieth century.
The writer Margit Friberg is recorded as buried in the churchyard.
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Södra Ölands pastorat
Södra Ölands pastorat
Smedby kyrka stands on southern Öland, at a point where the flat alvar landscape to the east gives way to farmland running down towards Kalmarsund in the west. A small village grew up around the church, with a school and vicarage nearby.
Kyrkgatan 3, 38692, Färjestaden
Explore this church: Smedby kyrkaChurch information: Svenska kyrkan, Platser · CC BY 4.0. Each church page includes its credits and visiting notes.
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View church details: Hovshaga kapellSources, 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: 1 Jul 2024. This is not an independent verification date.
Source record: 90f1a583-cbb9-4234-a2b9-c31601e963dc
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.