Vickleby kyrka

The original nave, with its round-arched openings and portals in the west and south, dates from the mid-1100s. Around 1200 a formidable west tower of the same width as the nave was added; its thick walls conceal mural staircases, small chambers and, at the top, a shooting gallery, suggesting it once served defensive as well as ecclesiastical purposes. A treasury chamber is also said to have existed within its stonework. The tower's pointed portal, added around 1300, is crowned by a multi-lobed rose motif sometimes read as a symbolic reference to Christ's suffering on the cross.

Little documentary evidence survives from the 14th to 16th centuries, possibly because Danish raids in 1677 destroyed earlier records, so questions such as when the nave's original vaulting was removed and replaced by the flat wooden ceiling now seen cannot be answered with certainty.

The church's present character owes much to the 18th century. In 1778 the medieval apse was replaced by a larger, rectangular chancel, and the nave walls were extended eastward. Around the same time the interior received the blue colour scheme still associated with the church today, though records show it was later overpainted in pearl-grey, white and gold during the 19th century before the 1700s palette was restored in a 20th-century campaign. The flat ceiling was painted in the early 1780s, and the altarpiece, originally painted in 1713–14, was enlarged top and bottom in 1780 to fit the new chancel; its original frame is no longer known.

Among the furnishings, a Romanesque sandstone font from the late 12th century survives, its carved reliefs now much worn, along with a small medieval bell. The pulpit, carved in 1763 and later enlarged, carries relief scenes associated with Gethsemane and the Ascension. A notable 20th-century contribution comes from the Vickleby-based artist Arthur Percy, whose decorative painting on the pews helps unify the church's varied interior; a chasuble embroidered with motifs from the Öland alvar, created with Sofia Widén, is also linked to his circle.

The churchyard is the burial place of several notable figures connected with local cultural life, including the furniture designer and founder of Capellagården, Carl Malmsten, and the artists Arthur Percy and Stig Rosell, alongside textile artist Ulla Schumacher-Percy.