Skälvum Church, Church building in Skälvum, Götene Municipality, Sweden

Skälvum Church is a Romanesque sandstone church in Skälvum, Götene Municipality, about 19 km west of Lidköping. Its nave, chancel and apse were built around 1172 with finely cut rectangular blocks and thin mortar joints; the west tower was added soon after. Only the east chancel window keeps its original round-arched form.

The church was built around 1172 of cut sandstone in Romanesque style, as shown by dendrochronological dating of its timber. The tympanum bears the inscription "Othelric me fecit", naming its master builder. In the early 12th century the neighbouring Torsgården farm gave up about half its plot for the church; the west tower stands only 25 metres from the farmhouse. The nave vaults were added in the 13th century and the wall paintings in the mid-17th century.

The tympanum of the west portal carries the inscription "Othelric me fecit", naming the master builder; some sculptures and the baptismal font are also attributed to him. The font bowl, cracked and held together by an iron band, shows eight relief arches with the baptism of Christ and two combat scenes. The original high altar was replaced by a simpler wooden one in the 18th century and later put back in place.

Skälvum Church stands on a low ridge in the clay farmland of Götene Municipality, about 19 km west of Lidköping, with the neighbouring Torsgården farm building only 25 m from the west tower. The churchyard and surrounding fields are open ground; the building itself is an ecclesiastical listed complex, so treat the interior and the medieval sculpture with care. The south portal has been walled up, so use the west tower entrance.

The 1961 restoration found the church rests on 1.5 m of black cultural soil older than the building. At 80 cm depth lay a late Viking Age iron axe and a rim sherd of an ornamented clay vessel; the top layer held the intact frame of the original Romanesque high altar.