Stoby kyrka

The church began as a stone building in the Romanesque style, with a nave, a narrower and lower chancel, and a semicircular apse to the east. Some evidence suggests the church had a broad west tower from an early stage, though its documented history only stretches back to the 1600s; a freestanding bell tower later stood in its place before the present brick tower, with stepped gables designed by Johan Fredrik Åbom, was built in 1854. The nave was substantially lengthened westward in the 1600s, and in 1836 a broad north transept, known as the Nykyrkan ("new church"), was added.

Vaulting was introduced to the chancel and nave in the 1400s, but only the chancel vault survives; the nave vaults were removed in the 1830s. The apse originally had a domed, helmet-shaped vault of its own.

The church's greatest treasure is its sequence of wall paintings. The oldest, Romanesque in style and dated to around 1225, survive in the apse, on the chancel's north wall and on the triumphal arch. The apse shows a Majestas Domini composition: Christ in majesty surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists, with seated apostles below. The paintings on the north chancel wall are more fragmentary but depict scenes from the life of Christ, while the underside of the triumphal arch carries medallions with figures, the central one thought to represent Christ. Faint incised drawings—figures, ornaments, symbols and runic inscriptions—were scratched into the wet plaster when the church was built, and some lines have been read as brief phrases about learning or resisting the Mass, though such readings should be treated with caution. A later, separate layer of paintings in the chancel vault, from the late 1400s or early 1500s, is attributed to the so-called Everlöv Master and shows the Nativity, Old Testament motifs, and figures of the evangelists.

Among the furnishings, the Renaissance-style pulpit dates from 1592, and the wooden font table with its brass font bowl, standing on lion-footed supports, is from the 1600s. A richly carved and gilded altarpiece, associated with the time of King Christian IV of Denmark and bearing his monogram, includes a central painting of the Last Supper.

The chancel's stained-glass windows date from the 1930s and were made by Hugo Gehlin; the larger south window depicts the four evangelists, and the smaller north window shows the baptism of Christ. The current organ was built in 1940 by A. Mårtensson's Orgelfabrik of Lund, replacing an earlier instrument from 1860 by Sven Löfqvist of Stoby.