Viby church

Church

Viby is a medieval parish that is rich in ancient remains. The medieval church was probably built in the 12th century. According to reports, the church is said to have been burned by the Danes in 1567-68 during the Nordic Seven Years' War. The extent of the damage to the church, if any, is not known.

In 1567, a bell tower was built in the cemetery, and in 1730 the bells were moved into the church. When the church was renovated in 1776, most of the building was demolished, and it gained the dimensions it has today. The church has a wide nave with a straight-ended chancel. The north and south walls of the chancel are angled and give a concave impression. During the reconstruction, the medieval tower remained, and probably the northern extension of the tower is also from the old church. Parts of the old sacristy are included in the western part of the northern wall of the nave.

The chancel is dominated by the large altarpiece painted by the most sought-after church painter of the time, Pehr Hörberg, in 1796, depicting the death of Christ. The baptismal font made of limestone was probably manufactured in Michael Hacke's workshop in 1659. This was one of two workshops in western Östergötland that produced this type of baptismal font. The second workshop was located in Vadstena and was led by Johan Andersson Silfverling.

In the cemetery, there are three rune stones. One of these was discovered during the restoration in 1962 and is dated to the late 10th century. It has the inscription: Hök raised this stone for the skilled young man and made this mound for his son, the good servant. His name is Gemar. Another stone of red granite was previously used as a threshold in the church's material shed and has the inscription: Toste raised the stone for Östen, his son-in-law. The third stone is an ornamentally carved stone without runes. It was found in 1911 in the garden of the old school, where the schoolchildren, under the teacher's guidance, cultivated a garden plot. The following summer, it was raised in the cemetery.

The church can be accessed from the old national road that goes between Mantorp and Linköping.