Täby kyrka
Encyclopedia
Täby Municipality
Täby Municipality is a municipality north of Stockholm in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Täby...
), in the province of Uppland
Uppland
Uppland is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea...
and the northern part of Stockholm County
Stockholm County
Stockholm County is a county or län on the Baltic sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. Stockholm County is divided by the historic provinces of Uppland and Södermanland...
. The church is best known for its painted walls and ceilings by Albertus Pictor
Albertus Pictor
Albertus Pictor , also called Albert Pictor, Albert Målare and Albrekt Pärlstickare , is the most famous late medieval Swedish painter, known for his wallpaintings surviving in numerous churches in southern and central Sweden.-Career:Albertus was originally called Albertus Immenhusen,...
.
History
The church was built during the latter half of the 13th century. It was first constructed as a square hall. In mid 14th century a vestry was added and about 100 years later the church porchChurch porch
A church porch is a room at a church's main entrance.In Scandinavia the porch of a church is often called by names meaning weaponhouse. Visitors stored weapons there because of a prohibition against carrying weapons into the sanctuary, or into houses in general....
was built. During the second half of the 15th century, the flat wooden ceiling was replaced by a vaulted ceiling. The altarpiece
Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
dates from the 1470s.
Paintings
The church is best known as one of the churches will mural paintings by Albertus PictorAlbertus Pictor
Albertus Pictor , also called Albert Pictor, Albert Målare and Albrekt Pärlstickare , is the most famous late medieval Swedish painter, known for his wallpaintings surviving in numerous churches in southern and central Sweden.-Career:Albertus was originally called Albertus Immenhusen,...
(died 1511). The paintings in the ceiling were made in the 1480s and were never, as many of his other works, covered by white paint. The paintings include a picture of a man playing chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
with Death, a motif that inspired Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
in his making the movie The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death , who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play...
. The main inspiration for the paintings was Biblia Pauperum
Biblia pauperum
The Biblia pauperum was a tradition of picture Bibles beginning in the later Middle Ages. They sought to portray the historical books of the Bible visually. Unlike a simple "illustrated Bible", where the pictures are subordinated to the text, these Bibles placed the illustration in the centre,...
, a collection of events from the Holy Bible.
The pulpit is from the 1630s and was originally placed in the chapel of the former Castle of Stockholm
Tre kronor (castle)
Tre Kronor or Three Crowns was a castle located in Stockholm, Sweden, on the site where Stockholm Palace is today. It is believed to have been a citadel that Birger Jarl built into a royal castle in the middle of the 13th century...
.