Västra Alstads kyrka

The building has been altered repeatedly over the centuries, as is typical of old parish churches. Only the lower part of the tower, now forming the porch, survives from the medieval structure. A record from 1665 mentions a separate wooden bell-house, since there was no proper tower at that time. The present tower was built in 1780 on the old walls; it was originally intended to be topped with a spire, but when funds ran out a simpler roof was built instead, which remains today.

In 1841 the nave was demolished and replaced with a considerably wider one, and the two rows of columns inside are thought to mark the line of the old medieval walls. Wikipedia notes the nave dates from 1840–41 and that the chancel was extended eastward in 1898.

The stained-glass windows are among the church's most distinctive features. Under the incumbency of vicar Axel Krook, who took up his post in 1924, a decision was made to embellish the church, beginning with the windows. A donation from Miss Johanna Svensson funded designs by the Stockholm artist Per Månsson, the first of which, showing the Risen Christ above the altar, was completed in 1928. Eight years later, a further donation from mill-owner Lars Hermondsson paid for the remaining ten window openings, decorated with Christian symbols such as Luther's rose and the anchor of hope.

The altarpiece, carved with angels in Renaissance style and showing four scenes from the life of Christ, is thought to date from the 1590s, though the painted panels may have been added around 1695, possibly replacing earlier text panels. The pulpit, of carved and painted wood in a matching style, was installed in 1598 and depicts the evangelists and St Peter. Both pieces were restored in the 1940s by Osvald Owald, who uncovered their original colours beneath later layers of paint — at one point in the late 19th century the pulpit had even been painted to imitate oak, then a fashionable finish.

There are two font basins in the church. One, carved from Ignaberga limestone by the sculptor Anders Jönsson in 1944, shows the Annunciation, the Adoration and the Baptism of Christ, the first scene set unusually in an old Scanian rural setting. The other, older font, dating from the mid-19th century and made of wood and copper, now serves as a collection bowl near the exit. The current organ was built in 1968 by Hammarberg of Gothenburg, incorporating a facade from an earlier 1868 instrument.

The churchyard is the burial place of Emilia Fogelklou (born 1878), a Swedish writer, lecturer and teacher who in 1909 became the first woman in Sweden to gain a degree in theology. Although she did not seek ordination herself, she argued for women's admission to the priesthood, and in 1941 became the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate in theology from Uppsala University.