Skanör church

Skanör Church (Swedish: Skanörs kyrka, also known as the Church of St. Olof, Swedish: S:t Olofs kyrka) is a medieval Lutheran church in Skanör, Sweden.

There has probably been a church at the site of the present one since the 12th century. The presently visible church however dates, in its oldest parts, from the first half of the 13th century. The Romanesque nave is the oldest part of the church. It was unusual in that it was from the outset equipped with vaulted ceiling, not a simpler flat wooden ceiling.

In the 14th century, Skanör and neighbouring Falsterbo grew rich on herring-trade and the regionally important Scania Market. This had repercussions for the church, which was greatly expanded. The nave was doubled in size, the present bell tower added, and the western façade adorned, typically for Scanian medieval churches, with crow-stepped gables. These additions were made in the new Gothic style. Less than a hundred years later, the large choir which today dominates the church with its high Gothic windows, was added. Furthermore, under the choir a crypt was built; Skanör church is one of only four medieval churches in Scania with a crypt. These reconstruction efforts were probably intended only as the beginning of even larger reconstruction works, but these never came about (possibly as an effect of the herring trade shifting focus to nearby Falsterbo).

There are some noteworthy interior details of the church. The main altar is a large Renaissance altar, probably made in Malmö. The baptismal font is medieval, although scholars disagree on its exact age. The triumphal cross is medieval, as is one of the church bells, made by a master bell-maker Gherhard Crammar in Lübeck.

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