Rogslösa Church, Medieval church in Vadstena Municipality, Sweden
Rogslösa Church is a limestone building with a tall tower, a single-nave nave with three cross vaults, a barrel-vaulted choir and transept, and a timbered porch on the south side of the nave. The sacristy is later than the rest. One original medieval window remains between the porch and the south transept.
A wooden stave church from the 1000s likely stood here before a Romanesque limestone tower was added in the 1100s or before 1213. In the early 1200s the timber walls were replaced in stone, and in the later 1200s the church was enlarged with a new choir and transept by lay brothers from Alvastra Abbey. The Rogslösa door was carved around 1275.
The name Rogslösadörren links the church's main artwork to the parish itself, and the anonymous woodcarver behind it is known as Rogslösamästaren. Inside, the north transept gallery keeps its original pews, while the south transept serves as the baptismal area with an old piscina. The tower room holds a medieval gravestone and a large helmet with a feather plume.
The building can be visited during daylight hours and accommodates small to medium-sized groups comfortably. Limited parking is available nearby, so expect a quiet arrival by way of rural roads.
The Rogslösa door hangs in the timber porch on the south side of the nave, not in the main church room. Its wood was felled around 1275, and the ironwork shows a hunting scene from the legend of Saint Eustace above and the Fall of Man with Eve, the tree and the serpent below.
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