Medieval churches in Scania: Part A

Abstract

The question of how building materials and construction techniques changed over time in the medieval stone church building was tested on a small number of churches in Scania (Swedish: Skane) on two separate occasions in the 1980s (Sundner 1986, 1989). The results showed chronological changes both as to what rock types was chosen, how they were cut and how the masonry was done. When looking at raw materials that could be used for construction it is clear that Scania represents an area of ​​ physical geographic diversity. However, it was possible to see that during the earlier middle ages primarily local rock types were chosen. Long distance transportation of building material was only done occasionally. Example of this can be seen in the first stone constructions during the 11th century with Dalby abbey and the oldest parts of the Cathedral of Lund (Lofvendahl and Sundner 1997 Sundner 1995, 2000, 2012). During the 12th century the sandstone from Hoor in central Scania was used as worked stone over a wider geographic area. Primarily it was used in portals and baptismal fonts. However, from the 13th century onward bricks became more and more used as building material. An extensive building of vaults required and resulted in a large production increase of bricks. The bricks also came to replace natural stone into portals and ornaments when the walls became built of field stones. Furthermore, the technique for masonry also changed, which can be seen as the stones were no longer laid in courses. Architectural changes of various kinds are also observed and recorded. In total there are 283 fully or partially preserved medieval churches in the countryside in Scania. Of these churches 245 are included in the inventory. Six churches (Ostra Stro, Ostra Hoby, Munka Ljungby, Vallkarra, Skurup and Vinslovs churches) that lack preserved naves have nevertheless been included since there are other parts of the buildings that were interesting in this context.