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Of the churches of the Swedish island of Gotland, 93 – the vast majority – are medieval. 92 of these are located on the countryside, with only Visby Cathedral remaining within the city wall of Visby, the main town of the island. However, during the Middle Ages, the amount of churches was even larger, with at least 12 churches in Visby and an additional four in the countryside. Some of these are still visible as more or less well-preserved ruins. For further information about these ruined churches, see list of church ruins on Gotland. ==Background== Gotland began to gradually abandon Norse religion and adopt Christianity during the 11th century. The first churches to be built on Gotland were wooden, built in the manner of stave churches.〔 None of these have survived intact. The most well-preserved remains, today in the Swedish History Museum, are those of Hemse stave church.〔 Traces and archaeological evidence of earlier stave churches have been discovered in ten different sites on Gotland.〔 The remains point to an artistic decoration reminiscent of Viking art. Stone churches began to replace wooden churches during the 12th century.〔 These churches were Romanesque in style, with influences coming mainly from Denmark and western German architecture,〔 but to a limited extent also from the Byzantine Empire.〔 Importantly, the construction of Lund Cathedral in Scania established a source of influences in the relative vicinity. Likewise, the 1164 establishment of the Cistercian monastery of Roma Abbey on Gotland led to strong Cistercian influences in the following period of church construction. These Romanesque churches were sometimes decorated internally with frescos. Here also, the influences came most often from the west and south, but sometimes also from Russia. Similarly, the churches were adorned with stone sculpture, notably decorated baptismal fonts. Here, too, influences came from both the west and the east,〔 but the sculptors themselves seem to have been native Gotlanders.〔 Finally, such churches also occasionally display wooden sculptures, such as triumphal crosses. These display a more markedly uniform western style, with influences coming from France or western Germany.〔 During the 13th century, reconstruction works were started on several of these earlier churches. New churches were also commissioned. Gotland was enjoying a period of prosperity thanks to increasing trade, and, possibly, due to its role as a staging area for crusaders departing for the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.〔 The churches were made larger and more elaborate. The style began to shift in favour of the Gothic, although few churches on Gotland display a pronounced Gothic style. The most elaborate parts of these churches are often the portals, notably the main southern portals.〔 The towers of these churches are also taller and more elaborate than earlier towers (which were often designed with a dual, defensive purpose). Another typical feature is the square choir that lacks an apse and instead has a straight eastern wall with three windows.〔 Internally, frescos and wooden sculpture continued to enjoy popularity, as well as occasionally stained glass windows. Artistic influences came via Visby from mainly western Germany. At the end of this period, Gotland entered a period of economic decline. Following the Black Death, the invasion of Gotland by Valdemar IV of Denmark and the Battle of Visby (1361), and a general decrease in trade, many churches were left unfinished. Hence, several churches on Gotland display a peculiar form, where the choir is in Gothic style and disproportionally large in comparison with the rest of the otherwise Romanesque church. In such cases, reconstruction of the church had started with the choir but was brought to a halt before the whole reconstruction scheme could be finished.〔 From about 1400, no new churches were erected and the general religious building activity decreases sharply. Internally, some churches receive further embellishment in the form of new altarpieces or frescos during the 15th and 16th century. Following the Reformation, a new type of altarpieces and pulpits were introduced.〔 These post-Reformation furnishings from the 17th and 18th centuries are also well represented in the churches of Gotland.〔 The church building activity on Gotland thus took place in the period of approximately 250 years, from 1100 to 1350. Until the early 13th century, the pace of church building was comparable to the rest of Scandinavia. From then on, both the number and size of new churches increased significantly, until building activity came to a complete halt at the end of the Middle Ages.〔 Only a few of the church buildings on Gotland have been significantly altered since the end of the Middle Ages,〔 which is unusual in a European context, since medieval churches were often heavily reconstructed or renovated during the 19th century. The medieval parish churches of Gotland comprise the most well-preserved set of such churches in Sweden,〔 and indeed in the whole Baltic region. During the 20th century, a small number of new churches have been built, notably in Visby. The vast majority of the churches on Gotland belongs to the Lutheran Church of Sweden, and the Diocese of Visby. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Churches on Gotland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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