Lye Church
Lye Church is a medieval church on Gotland, Sweden. The oldest parts of the church date from the last quarter of the 12th century, and the last major addition was the disproportionately large chancel, built during the second quarter of the 14th century by a workshop known by its notname as Egypticus. The workshop was also responsible for constructing the largest of the church portals, which is also decorated with Gothic stone sculpture. The tower portal contains sculptures attributed to the Romanesque sculptor Sigraf. The church has been little altered since the end of the Middle Ages. Lye Church contains the largest preserved set of medieval stained glass windows in the Nordic countries, and its interior is also decorated by medieval wall paintings, uncovered in the 1950s. The altarpiece is from 1496, and the church also contains a triumphal cross from the same period.
Location and surroundings
Lye Church is located south of the main road between Hemse and Ljugarn, on south-eastern Gotland. The church lies surrounded by its old cemetery. A low stone wall, built sometime between 1765 and 1793 to replace an earlier wooden fence, limit the cemetery to the south, east and west. The northern part of the wall is partially demolished and opens up to a newer section of the cemetery, established north of the old one in 1944. The cemetery has four entrances. The formerly northern limit of the old cemetery is marked by a row of European ash and the younger part is bordered on all sides by small-leaved limes. A small storage building, constructed sometime before 1846, lies in the northwestern part of the old part of the cemetery.History
Lye Church was built and to a large extent acquired its current appearance during the Middle Ages. No major alterations have been made since the 14th century.Construction
The oldest part of the church, probably constructed during the last quarter of the 12th century, is the nave, built in a Romanesque style. The tower was erected during the first half of the 13th century. When the tower was built, the western wall of the nave was demolished so that the tower could be incorporated with the church building. The difference between the bases of the tower and the northern nave wall still indicate where the break was made. The Gothic chancel and sacristy are from the second quarter of the 14th century and replaced an earlier chancel, constructed at the same time as the nave. They were built by a workshop operating on Gotland which has been assigned the notname. The portal of the former chancel was removed and reinstated in its present position as north entrance to the nave. The intention was probably to also rebuild the nave, but this was never done. The walls connecting the chancel and nave are still the provisional, thin walls without a marked base which were put in place in anticipation of further changes.Later changes
The decorated wooden ceiling dates from the 18th century. The three windows of the nave probably all date from the 1850s and replaced earlier, much smaller windows. A major renovation of the interior of the church was carried out in 1891. The floors of the chancel and nave were renewed, and the pews replaced with new ones. The altar rail was replaced, as was the organ facade. Central heating was installed in 1932. In 1939, the presently visible roof of the tower was installed, modeled after an earlier roof possibly designed by architect Olof Tempelman and dating from 1779. Tempelman's designs were probably executed by builder Hans Hesselby, who also constructed the roof of the tower at Ala Church in 1780. The earlier roof may have resembled those at Garde or Burs churches. Another large-scale renovation was done in 1954–55 under the guidance of architects and. The main structural change was that the walls of the nave were heightened with the dual purpose of exposing the top part of the arch connecting the chancel with the nave, and installing a modern, fire-proof ceiling above the wooden ceiling. The walls of the nave and chancel were at the same time cleaned, and the medieval paintings found under layers of whitewash restored. Wall paintings from the 18th century were removed, and some of the furnishings renovated. The exterior was renovated and the presently visible roofs were put in place in 1968.Architecture
Exterior
The walls of Lye Church are constructed of mainly grey, tufted limestone, whitewashed on the outside. A few details are made of brick and of limestone of a different colour. The portals, bases and skirtings around some of the windows are of dressed limestone, as are the corners of the chancel and tower. In broad outlines, the nave and tower are Romanesque in style while the chancel is Gothic. The disproportionate aspect of the church is derived from the fact that the rebuilding of the church during the Middle Ages was never finished, hence the later and larger chancel dominates the east end of the church. The shape, not uncommon among churches on Gotland, has been compared to that of a pack saddle.The tower is the most well-preserved Romanesque part of the church. On the north and south side of the first storey there are galleries accessible from inside the tower, each with two openings in the form of round arches separated by a small column. The outer archivolts of these openings are made of alternating limestone and brick, an unusual construction material on Gotland during the Middle Ages. The upper level contains the church bell, which dates from 1650 and was made in Stockholm. There are three openings for the bell on each side of the square tower. All of them with have round arches and each opening is divided in two by a central, wooden column.
Portals
The church has four entrance portals. Three of these are Romanesque: the western entrance in the base of the tower, the northern entrance to the nave and the southern entrance to the nave. The chancel portal is larger and more profusely decorated.The tower portal has a round outer arch which consists of alternating red and grey limestone; the inner arch is made of grey, roughly hewn limestone. Immured as part of the southern post is a decorated stone container, which may originally have been intended as a sarcophagus or a reliquary but later used as building material. It has been roughly adjusted to fit into the church wall. The exposed sides are decorated with figures in low relief. The short side facing the door depicts the Madonna enthroned while the long side, facing the exterior, depicts scenes which have been interpreted as two legendary creatures fighting, two dragons or possible one dragon with two heads, a warrior with armour and weapons, and a horse. It has been suggested that the subject matter depicted is the story of Sigurd slaying the dragon Fafnir. The reliefs date from the 12th century and have been attributed to the Romanesque artist or workshop Sigraf.
The northern portal of the nave is the smallest entrance to the church. Its round arched opening is constructed of alternating blocks of limestone and sandstone. It appears to not be original to its position and may have been removed from the earlier, demolished chancel to its present location during the Middle Ages.
The southern portal of the nave is constructed of alternating red and grey limestone. Its inner section consists of two pillars of convex cubic form supporting a round arch.
The chancel portal is the largest of the entrances, and Gothic in style. It is a comparatively richly decorated, pointed arch crowned by a wimperg made of grey and red limestone. The tympanum is decorated with sculpted flowers, and the capitals of the nested columns each contain a set of sculptures with the overarching theme being the childhood of Christ. The sculpted eastern capitals show, from left to right, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the birth of Christ, and the annunciation to the shepherds. The western capitals contain scenes showing, from left to right, the Adoration of the Magi and the Massacre of the Innocents. The wimperg above the portal depicts Christ enthroned, with one hand raised in a blessing and the other resting on a book. The sculptures are unusually well preserved, and a few of the figures still contain faint traces of original colour. The sculptures show several similarities with those at Norrlanda Church and have been described as some of the best examples of the art of Egypticus.