Peop­le living in the medi­e­val dio­ce­se of Ska­ra car­ved distin­cti­ve pat­terns on sto­ne panels: flo­wer-like pat­terns that wind across the sto­ne, which we now call lil­je­s­te­nar (tree of life slab) and are com­ple­tely uni­que to Västergötland.

 

One good pla­ce to get a clo­ser look at the­se tree of life slabs is at Fors­hems muse­um. Here you can see gra­ve­sto­nes, sto­ne sculp­tu­res, staff cross slabs, gra­ve covers with crosses, portrait gra­ve­sto­nes and tree of life slabs. They all come from the area around Kin­ne­kul­le, whe­re Christi­a­ni­ty was adop­ted at an ear­ly date and in which the­re are many medi­e­val chur­ches. The sto­nes in the muse­um date from the 11th to 18th cen­tu­ri­es and are all made from local sand­sto­ne and limesto­ne. Easy access to sto­ne from the mountain meant that the pro­duc­tion of sto­ne gra­ves, sculp­tu­res and fonts deve­lo­ped ear­ly here, and then spre­ad to other chur­ches in wes­tern Sweden.

Fors­hems muse­um is run by the Church of Swe­den from a small white house oppo­si­te Fors­hem church. Par­king is avai­lab­le at Fors­hem church. Admis­sion is free, but a volun­ta­ry con­tri­bu­tion to the muse­um is welcomed.

Hit­ta Hit