Gislövs Kyrka
Medieval church in Gislöv near Trelleborg
Gislövs Kyrka is located about 8 kilometers to the east of the city center of Trelleborg and is one of the best preserved medieval churches in the cultural landscape Söderslätt.
The oldest parts of the Gislövs Kyrka are the nave and the sanctuary. They date from the 13th century and were built in Romanesque style. Unique in Skåne is the masonry of the church, whose stones were trimmed so that they have protruding four-pointed stars.
The vaulted ceiling in the church were built in the 15th century and the paintings on the walls and ceiling was made about 100 years later. In the western vault of the central nave, the murals show the representation of the creation, in the eastern vault of the Last Judgment. Since a restoration in 1936, the old paintings show its original appearance from the late Middle Ages.
As a last major construction project the tower was added in stages during the period from 1760 to 1824. The oldest part of the the church inventory is a crucifix which is estimated to be from around 1300. The baptismal font is a lot younger, it is dated to 1656. Around from the same time period are the altar and the pulpit.
During the last enlargement and increasing of the tower some of the most famous and ancient stone chamber tombs in the vicinity disappeared. It is believed that they had two reasons for the removal of these prehistoric relics. On the one hand, to use the large stone blocks as building material for the tower. On the other hand, in order to eradicate the widespread superstition that still twined themselves around ancient tombs.
