Vikingstads kyrka

The present building was constructed between 1765 and 1768 to serve jointly the parishes of Vikingstad and Rakered, replacing their separate medieval churches, which were then demolished. Ruins of the old medieval church at Vikingstad, along with parts of its original churchyard, can still be seen nearby. Although built in the 1760s, the new church was not formally consecrated until October 1785, by the Bishop of Linköping, Uno von Troil.

Architecturally the church is a rectangular hall church with a west tower, built in a Gustavian Rococo style outwardly and Gustavian in its interior finish. The walls are of rendered natural stone, the roof a copper-clad mansard over the nave with a hipped roof over the sacristy, and the tower is topped with a domed cupola and lantern. The building was renovated in 1923–1924.

Several furnishings reflect the generosity of local patrons at the time of building. The altar cloth and vestments were donated by General Fredric Horn af Åminne, an altarpiece by the chamberlain Mattias Odencrantz, and a pulpit by Lieutenant Colonel Magnus Gabriel Tengmark. The present altarpiece, however, dates from 1877, painted by Svante Leonard Rydholm on the theme of the death of Christ, replacing the earlier work. A font from the later seventeenth century also survives.

The church's organ has a long and complicated history. It was originally built in 1785 by the Linköping organ builder Pehr Schiörlin, with much of its pipework still forming part of the visible façade. The instrument was altered and repaired repeatedly over the following two centuries, notably in 1802, 1880, 1894, 1909 and 1943, before a substantial restoration in 1970 sought to recover the 1802 disposition while adding a new console and pedal division. A separate, smaller chancel organ, first installed in 1963, was itself replaced in 1989 by a mechanical instrument from Smedmans Orgelbyggeri.

In the churchyard stands a gravekapell (funeral chapel) dating from the early twentieth century, enclosed by a hedge, dry stone wall and wooden fence, a modest but characteristic feature of Swedish parish burial grounds of the period.