The English Church from inside

The English church is normally only open for religious services, weddings, baptism and funerals. But in august it was open for visitors on Wednesdays so I had the opportunity to have a lock inside and capture a few HDR. Except for a few sun flares they turned out to be very beautiful IMO. Under this HDR from inside the church you can read about its interesting history.

The tradition of Anglican worship in Sweden dates back to the mid 1650’s. An Anglo-French Hugenot congregation formed in the later part of the 1600’s, holding services in both French and English. In 1741 the Swedish king Fredrick accepted a petition from the congregation to hold religious services in public. The church was supported by the Poor Box into which every English ship captain calling at Stockholm contributed 24 riksdaler.

In the mid 1800’s the congregation began to collect funds to build a church of its own. With generous grants from the British Government a site was purchased near Norra Bantorget. The foundation stone of the English Church of Saint Peter and Saint Sigfrid was laid and dedicated on 7 April 1863 and the church was completed and consecrated in 1866. But the church’s location at Rörstrandsgatan, later renamed Wallingatan, was considered to be undesirable with several brothels, a jail and a popular pub in the vicinity. So it was proposed that the whole building should be moved to a new location. The efforts of the Swedish Crown Princess Margaret, granddaughter of English Queen Victoria, made that move possible. In 1913 the church was moved stone by stone and reconstructed in an old Swedish military cemetery at Diplomatstaden.

The church is built in Neo-Gothic style, originally under the direction of Scottish architect James Souttar. The external walls are made of reddish sandstone from Södertälje, the inner walls are also sandstone, from Motala. The vaults of the tower are made of stone, and the rest of the church is vaulted in wood.

The crucifix you see hanging over the choir comes from Wellingborough, UK, and was dedicated in 1970.

Source: The homepage of the Anglican Episcopal Church of St Peter and St Sigfrid.