S:t Nicolai kyrka

The earliest church was a single stone nave, built during the late twelfth century, with an entrance on its southern side. A west tower followed soon afterwards. Its position on the higher ground at the edge of Arboga’s historic centre still gives the church a prominent place in the townscape.

The medieval building grew in stages. An enlarged chancel and a north aisle were completed in 1358. During the later fifteenth century, a south aisle and northern sacristy were added, and vaults were built over the church room. The tower was raised in brick, with the decorative blind recesses that remain visible above the older stonework.

The west entrance adds another period to the exterior. Its red wooden double door dates from 1649–50 and sits within a white, stepped arch. Around the church, the uneven stones, broad pale mortar joints and projecting buttresses give the walls their distinctive texture. The present copper roof covering was installed in 1978.

The parish describes an interior with furnishings from several periods: a German-made altarpiece from the 1500s with closing wings, a carved seventeenth-century screen preserved in a side chapel, and a gallery organ by E. A. Setterquist from 1862. These are documented interior features; our photographs here show the exterior and churchyard.

The tower once carried a much taller spire. A storm in 1889 brought it down, and the present low pyramidal cap took its place. Further renewal followed in 1904–05. Restoration in 1949–51 uncovered and conserved surviving medieval wall paintings and returned enclosed pew fronts to the interior. In 1994–95, repairs to the facade’s mortar joints and renewed paint on windows and doors helped establish the exterior colours seen today.