The magnificent portal of the nave opens into a light and lofty Gothic
interior richly decorated with mural paintings. Once, however, the church
was fortified. The tower is a remnant from an older building and is crenelated
under the spire, and the church yard wall has loopholes and a coping of
tilted slabs like the city wall of Visby. This fact, probably, lies at the
bottom of a local tale of a battle having been fought here in the Middle
Ages and depicted in a painting in the church, and lo and behold!- there
it is on the northern wall: a fierce encounter between mounted knights.
A historian has believed it to be a representation of a real battle between
the knights of the Teutonic Order and the Mecklenburgish pirates who had
occupied Gotland in 1398. Such historical paintings are, however, very uncommon
in the Middle Ages, and we must maintain the older interpretation of the
picture as a rendering of the legend of the Theban legion (the martyrdom
of the Ten thousands). The knights show the black cross of the Order on
their shields and banners, and the paintings present an East-European style
(Bohemian), which is alien to the art of painting in Gotland; this indicates,
that the painter came to the isle in the retinue of the knights and got
his commission from them; an ideal connection between the knight-martyrs
of the legend and the Teutonic crusaders is therefore not unthinkable. A
notable piece of art is the limestone alms-box, originally also pedestal
for the Rood, signed in runes by the architect and sculptor Lafrans Botvidarson
(see Hellvi).
Photo Hans Hemlin
Text Dr. Bengt G Söderberg
©1997 Created by Sören_Gannholm