The cat­he­dral is the very sym­bol of Ska­ra. The first records of a cat­he­dral being con­secra­ted on this site date from around 1150, but new finds indi­ca­te that the­re was a church here during the pre­vious century.

The church has been rava­ged by wars and fires over the years, but has sur­vi­ved despi­te this and rai­sed itself from the gra­vel, ashes and humiliation.

Resto­ra­tion work in 1947–1949 reve­a­led a well-pre­ser­ved crypt dating from the 12th cen­tu­ry, and during the 1999 resto­ra­tion even older sto­ne remains were found. During the most recent resto­ra­tion a gro­i­ned vault was built over the crypt, cre­a­ting a beau­ti­ful spa­ce for worship.

The cur­rent Got­hic design dates to the 1886–1894 resto­ra­tion, under the gui­dan­ce of archi­tect Hel­go Zet­ter­vall. The fur­nishings are uni­que and inclu­de the Soop Mau­so­le­um and Bo Beskow’s handso­me glass mosa­ic window.

We should also men­tion the local nick­na­me for the twin towers built in 1809–1810: Skara’s pants. Peop­le thought they looked like a pair of pants, and the name stuck, alt­hough the towers have clear­ly chang­ed shape sin­ce then!

Hit­ta Hit