List of medieval churches on Gotland
[1][2][3] Benefiting from its location in the middle of the Baltic Sea, the island enjoyed an increase in wealth thanks to expanding trade between Western and Eastern Europe, giving the inhabitants the means to build large and prestigious churches.
Church architecture remained conservative on Gotland, and, while Gothic forms eventually replaced Romanesque, it never acquired the structurally light character it did elsewhere in Europe.
The churches built during the first half of the 14th century on Gotland are sometimes referred to as "counter-Gothic" (kontragotik) in Swedish literature.
In the middle of the 14th century, Gotland entered a period of decline and turmoil, and suffered a loss of trade from which the island would never recover.
[7][8] Thanks to its location within the Baltic Sea, Gotland benefited economically from an increase in trade between Eastern and Western Europe during the Middle Ages giving the inhabitants the financial means to construct large, prestigious churches.
There, many of the churches were constructed by religious orders, confraternities or foreign merchants; present-day Visby Cathedral originally served the German traders of the city.
[17][9] Sometimes they were decorated with friezes of reliefs depicting religious or possibly mythological subjects; some of these have been preserved by being re-used and incorporated in later, Gothic structures.
[20] These include both certain notable details, such as chancels lacking apses, with straight walls facing east containing three lancet windows, but also a general tendency towards a relatively austere architecture.
[20][21] Several of these workshops have been given notnames by later art historians, such as Majestatis and Byzantios, while other labels, such as Sigraf and Hegvald, derive from inscriptions found on the fonts.
[28] Stylistically, a conservative Early Gothic style, still strongly reminiscent of Romanesque through its heavy volumes and often round arches, would prevail until the end of the 13th century.
During the 14th century, the decoration became more profuse and also narrative, often depicting religious or mythological scenes on the capitals of the portal columns.
[36] A single workshop, today known by its notname as Egypticus [sv] after some of the sculptures that have features vaguely reminiscent of the art of ancient Egypt, appears to have been employed in a large number of churches.
Archaeologist Anders Andrén writes that it is "as if the stone masons had left the construction site for the day and never returned".
[37] Following the Reformation, changes in the liturgy led to the installation of new types of fittings, including pulpits and different kinds of altarpieces.
[43] Many altarpieces were made locally in Burgsvik during the 17th century and today often give a Baroque touch to the medieval churches.
[46] Archaeological examinations in connection with renovations of the churches in particular during the 20th century served to further tweak the dates in individual cases but also to confirm the overall timeline.
[47] In a few cases where contemporary scientific methods have been used to examine the churches, radiocarbon dating and to a lesser extent dendrochronology have also lent some support to the established timeline.
