Adelsö Church is a church located on the Lake Mälaren

Mälaren

Lake Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden, after Lakes Vänern and Vättern. Its area is 1,140 km² and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from east to west...

 island Adelsö

Adelsö

Adelsö is an island in the middle of Lake Mälaren in Sweden, near southern and northern Björkfjärden. The administrative center of the important Viking settlement Birka was situated at Hovgården on Adelsö.-Geography:...

, in Ekerö Municipality

Ekerö Municipality

Ekerö Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. The name comes from the island Ekerö, and literally means "Oak Island". Its seat is located in the town of Ekerö....

 in central eastern Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

.

The Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 church, itself founded in the 12th century, is located next to Hovgården

Hovgården

Hovgården is an archaeological site on the Lake Mälaren island of Adelsö in Ekerö Municipality in central-eastern Sweden. During the Viking Age, the centre of the prospering Mälaren Valley was the settlement Birka, founded in the mid-8th century and abandoned in the late 10th century and located...

, an excavation site and a World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 dating back to before the Viking Age

Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...

 (c. 800-1050 CE).

History

No traces have been found of the first church on the location, but it is assumed it was made of wood. This original structure was however replaced by a stone building in the end of the 12th century, possibly initiated by the king living at the royal estate at Hovgården. If true, the church thus originally served both the local parish and the royal mansion.

This stone structure originally had a nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 furnished with a narrow choir which possibly ended in an apse

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

. The sacristy

Sacristy

A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...

 was added in the 14th century, and during the century that followed the tower and then the brick vault

Vault (architecture)

A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...

s were added. In the 1470s, the choir was widened and united with the nave. The exterior of the tower was created in 1753. and finally, 70 years later, the entrance was relocated from the southern façade to the western end; old windows were enlarged and new windows were added.

There is a baptismal font

Baptismal font

A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...

 from the 12th century and a crucifix

Crucifix

A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....

 from the later half of the 14th century. The pulpit is from 1786 and the gallery from 1832. Two runestones are built into the walls of the sacristy: U 1 and U 10. The votive ship hanging in the church was donated in 1960.

Additionally, the so called Hovgården Runestone, U 11, is located just north of the church, near the ruins of the medieval brick palace Alsnö hus

Alsnö hus

Alsnö hus are the ruins of an old castle and a palace at the Hovgården settlement. It is located on Adelsö island, in Lake Mälaren in central-eastern Sweden...

.