- a small medieval stone church in Sweden

The “Södra Vings Kyrka” is one of the few Christian monuments from that time around Ulricehamn, Sweden. The church is a stone building whose oldest section was built in the 1130′s.

The original chancel was demolished in the mid to late 1200s and was replaced by current conditions in the Gothic style with a little church sculpture here and there. During the 1400′s was the nave ceiling cross vaults, which were decorated with murals, I think it was by the same people who built the ancient castles around the area that did the job with the Christian buildings aswell. The sacristy was built in the 1600s and 1700s expanded the church with the tower and the nave was extended westward.

Inside the old church:

- Current altar with carvings derived from the Middle Ages.
- A image of Holy Mary in late gothic style, is a relic from an altar screen from 1400.
- The pulpit in Baroque style was added in the 1600′s.
- In the church tower are two medieval bells. The big clock was donated in the year 1293 (by Tune Anundson who was patron of the church). The smaller bell is from 1400.

Here follows a gallery with images from the medieval stone church “Södra Vings Kyrka” in Ulricehamn, Sweden. If you want to watch other nice pictures of Church monuments, Christian buildings and ancient castles, please visit the main site, www.remains.se.

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The medieval fortress at the town of Kungälv, Sweden

Bohus Fästning (“The fortress of Bohus”, originally Bagahus) is situated at the former Swedish / Norwegian border. It was Haakon V Magnuson, the king of Norway (between 1299-1319) who gave the construction order. He also initiated the construction of Akershus in Oslo, Norway. At this time, Bohuslän (where Kungälv is situated), belonged to Norway.

Bohus fortress was invested 14 times and badly damaged, but not once taken. At one point, the border was moved north and the fortress was to no-use to Sweden anymore. Then the norweigans built Fredriksten fortress.

Photo galler of Bohus Fästning (Bohus Fortress)

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- an unique grave ship was recently found by swedish archaeologists.

The viking-aged grave ship’s discovery was placed in Sunnerby, a place clos e to the castle of Läckö, near the lake of Vänern (see a map from the area here) . The ship is probably from the 7th century.  At least two human remains, one young and one old person, was found. It seems to have been a very highly placed person’s funeral.  There was also remains of sacrified animals. The ship was burnt after the funeral.

Only in England has a grave ship like this been found before.

At remains.se, you can find a photo gallery from the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway.

They did never see each other again.

My brother Rikard took some closeup photos.