Stora Åby kyrka

The church's origins date to the later 12th century, with the tower added in the 1200s. By the 17th century the old Romanesque church had become too small for the parish, and in the mid-1700s plans were made for a new building. The rebuilding took place in 1756–1757, though the lower part of the tower and portions of the west and north walls were retained from the medieval structure. The rector at the time, Fredrik Bagge, contributed substantially towards the cost, reportedly funding most of the new building himself; he is said to be buried in a vault beneath the church.

The exterior is dominated by the tall west tower, crowned with a two-stage lantern and decorated with corner quoins, while the roofline is broken and the nave rises high above the surrounding fields. Inside, large round-arched windows light a tall wooden barrel-vaulted ceiling.

Among the furnishings, a sandstone font dates from the second half of the 12th century and is decorated with bestiary carvings. A wooden altar cabinet, made in Lübeck in the late 15th century, hangs on one of the nave's long walls, offering a rare survival from the medieval church. The present altarpiece, in Baroque style, is generally dated to the 1760s, though sources differ, with one giving 1736 and another 1763 for its creation; it is attributed to the sculptor Johan Ullberg. The pulpit dates from 1787, in Gustavian style. A clock made by Johan Stålknapp, whose family produced clocks over several generations, is also kept in the church.

The organ has a long history: instruments were built or rebuilt here in the late 17th and 18th centuries, with the surviving façade dating from 1788, behind which a new mechanical organ was installed in the early 20th century by the Örebro firm E. A. Setterquist & Son.

The churchyard to the south is laid out in terraces, with enclosed grave plots and standing memorial stones (bautastenar), adding to the sense of a long-settled but never densely populated parish landscape.