Holms Church, Holms parish, Uppland December 2002

The picture has been taken in connection with the cultural historical characterization of Holm’s church, Holm’s parish, Uppland 12 December 2002. Holm’s church is located in a lowland and, for the most part, overgrown plain settlement. On the Iron Age, the parish was an island, which may suggest the parish name. The church is located in the middle of the open culture landscape. The church has the closest character of a castle church to the nearby Sjö Castle. Both the castle and the church were funded by the owner Johan Gabriel Stenbock. A medieval church was in Holm on the same site as the present church. It had a rectangular longhouse, gunhouses to the south and sacristy to the north. The Medieval Church is mentioned in a document from 1280. Holm’s church was erected in the 1670s. The walls of the medieval church have been widely used in the new church. A large part of the walls facing south and east are made up of medieval masonry. To the north, the cormorant is clearly seen between the Lower Medieval Wall and the built 16th Century Wall. The church is considered to be a work by Matthias Spihler even though Nikodemus Tessin d.ä. also mentioned as an architect. The church had from the outset a grain roof. It was also provided with a large roof clay with church bells, crowned by a baroque spire The interior was of artistically high quality. Altar and pulpit were e.g. by Burchard Precht. The church was fire-damaged in 1723. The roof and the lantern burned and raged down the church so that the entire interior was burned. The church was rebuilt and the roof with its lanternin and sprout rebuilt. The roof was covered with black glazed brick. The interior got the design that was essentially preserved to our time. The roof of the church and the lantern burned once again in 1822. The Lanternin was not rebuilt. The roof was built up as a saddle roof. The church has a simple rectangular plan shape. The 16th century walls are bricked. The façades have the typical division with niches and lisenes for the Tessinian architecture. The church architect Matthias Spihler was a disciple of Nicodemus Tessin d.ä. The roof is a rolled saddle roof, with a traditionally made, false plate cover since 1990.