UPPSALA CATHEDRAL

The 'Cathedral of Uppsala' (), is the largest church building in Scandinavia, being 118.7 m high, and with a length of 118.7 m. The construction of the cathedral began in 1287 after the archbishopric was moved from Gamla Uppsala. It would take more than a century to complete the construction. It was inaugurated 1435 under archbishop Olaus Laurentii, but was actually still not completely finished. It was dedicated to the saints Saint Lawrence, a most cherished saint in all of Sweden at that time, Saint Eric, the patron of Sweden (though never canonised by the pope), and Saint Olaf the patron of Norway. It was completed within the following decades. The Cathedral was severely damaged in the great fire of 1702, whereafter its Renaissance appearance of 1619 was altered. For instance its tall, Dutch Renaissance spires were replaced with small, dome-like, towers in Baroque style under the architect Carl Hårleman (1700-1753). The second restoration came in 1885-1893 under the architect Helgo Zettervall (1831-1907), who wanted to give the cathedral a ''French'' Gothic revival appearance. The original, medieval style was Baltic International Gothic, which employed relatively robust brick walls. The small Baroque towers were replaced by tall (French-inspired) spires, including a third, smaller tower on the transept crossing in the same style. Zettervall also severely altered large portions of the medieval outer brick walls as to give it a slimmer appearance, which meant the white-washed "blind windows", similar to the ones found on parts of the nearby Holy Trinity Church (Helga trefaldighets kyrka) were removed. The (interior) ceiling and walls of the cathedral were decorated in neo-Gothic style, although some depictions, such as one of Martin Luther, did not attempt to reconstruct the cathedral's medieval heritage. Large portions of cement additions by Zettervall to the exterior structure of the cathedral were removed some decades later.
In the Middle Ages, when all houses in Uppsala except the churches consisted of one- or two-storeyed houses made of wood or sometimes bricks, the cathedral must have seemed even more enormous than today. Interestingly, the church was not the main place of worship of the citizens until the Reformation. The church was reserved for official services (by the cathedral's canons). The main churches, or parishes, in Uppsala were Holy Trinity church, or "Bondekyrkan" ("Farmer's Church") as it was often called, Saint Peter's church (St. Per), Our Lady's church (Vår Fru) and a Franciscan monastery. The last three existed on the east side of Fyrisån, which was, and is, the central business district, but were successivelly torn down during the Reformation.
The Cathedral was also the coronation church for many of Swedens kings and queens. It housed coronations from the middle ages, up until the end of the 17th century. Thereafter, up until 1872, Stockholm's Cathedral (Storkyrkan) was the official coronation church. (Monarchs in Sweden have not been crowned since the days of Oscar II.)
A number of Swedish kings and prolific personalities lie buried inside, among others:

★ Gustav Vasa, 16th century, mighty King of Sweden. He is buried with two of his wives. He was interred in what was once the chapel of the Virgin Mary. The only indication of this in our day are the painted yellow stars against a blue background on the vaulted ceiling of the chapel, which are symbols of Saint Mary in Catholic tradition.

★ John III of Sweden and his wife Catherine Jagiellon.

★ Carolus Linnaeus, 18th century, world renowned botanist.

★ Olof Rudbeck, famous Swedish polymath and one of the discoverers of the lymphatic system (He also wrote ''Atlantica'', a book in which he attempted to demonstrate that all peoples of the world originated in Sweden, and that Uppsala was the lost Atlantis).

★ Emanuel Swedenborg, 18th century, scientist and mystic. He was not originally interred here, but his earthly remains were transported to Uppsala from England in 1908.

★ Nathan Söderblom, 19th-20th century, notable archbishop.

★ Eric the Saint, 12th century. King and national saint.

★ Laurentius Petri Sweden's first Lutheran archbishop.

★ In modern times some relics of Saint Bridgette (Heliga Birgitta) are placed in the chapel of Saint Erik and the parents of Saint Bridgette.

Contents

Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial

See also

External links

Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial

In the cathedral there is also a small memorial to Dag Hammarskjöld, former UN Secretary-General. On a stone it says:
Icke jag
utan gud i mig
Dag Hammarskjöld 1905 - 1961
"Not I, but God in me."

See also

★ Church of Sweden

★ Archbishop of Uppsala

★ Temple at Uppsala

External links

★ Photos of Cathedral of Uppsala

★ Tourist guide

★ Official Uppland tourist page

★ Cathedral's website