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Gotlandic Picture Stones - The Online Edition

GP 414 Stenkyrka kyrka 25









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Parish Find Location ⓘ
Stenkyrka

Find Location ⓘ
Stenkyrka church

Find Context Classification ⓘ
Church

Coordinate Find Location (lat) ⓘ
6411166

Coordinate Find Location (long) ⓘ
709898

Present Location Classification ⓘ
Gotlands Museum Magasin Visborg

Coordinate Present Location (lat) ⓘ
6390259

Coordinate Present Location (long) ⓘ
695514

Material
Limestone

Height ⓘ
40

Width ⓘ
28

Lindqvist Type 

Lindqvist Shape 

Runic Inscription or not ⓘ
No

Context and Discovery ⓘ
There is no information about the find circumstances of this fragment available. All that can be said is that it may have been found in Stenkyrka church after Lindqvist’s book was published. In “Gotlands Bildsteine”, Sune Lindqvist (1941/42 II, pp. 115–118) lists nine picture stones from Stenkyrka church. By contrast, the list put together by Jan Peder Lamm in 2003 contains no fewer than 40 new discoveries (Lamm/Nylén 2003, nos. 238–276, 425, 426). The unusually large number of stones found not only in the church, but in the entire parish, is an indicator of the political and religious position that Stenkyrka probably already held even before the first church was built (see Roosval 1914, p. 5). Many of the new finds from the church were discovered curing a large-scale restoration, which was carried out in 1954/55 according to plans by the architect Rolf Bergh. This is probably also the case with stone no. 25.

The earliest church at this place was probably a wooden building that was replaced by a stone church in the first half of the twelfth century. The foundations of the first stone church were discovered beneath the floor of the current church, built during the thirteenth century. The tower with its portal was erected between 1280 and 1310 (on the building’s architectural history, see Roosval 1911, pp. 84–86; 1914, pp. 1–52, esp. 21–24; Lagerlöf/Svahnström 1991, pp. 239–243).

Measurements, Material and Condition ⓘ
The fragment of a limestone slab is more-or-less rectangular and approximately 40 cm high and 28 cm wide. Only on one of the short sides of the rectangle the monument’s original narrow side is preserved, the other edges are broken edges. Whether this narrow side (certainly representing the upper edge of the monument) was slightly convex cannot be determined. The broad side is completely smooth, the edge between the broad side and the narrow side is also abraded, so that no traces of a possible chamfer have survived.

Description of Ornament and Images ⓘ
The only visible decoration preserved on the fragment is placed on its narrow side – a row of five parallel, deep and wide grooves with a u-shaped cross-section.

Interpretation of the Imagery ⓘ
No interpretation

Type and Dating ⓘ
The fragment most probably represents an Early-Type monument of the kerbstone type (ʻRandsteinʼ in German or ʻkantstenʼ in Swedish). According to Lindqvist, those slabs, belonging to his ʻAbschnittʼ A (circa AD 400–600), usually formed a kerb which surrounded a grave mound, probably with a large erected Type A picture stone on top of it. Stenkyrka kyrka 25 can be assigned to Lindqvist’s group of “Randsteinplatten ohne Verzierung auf der Breitseite, die Kante in oft wechselnder Richtung gerieft” (ʻkerbstone slabs without decoration on the broad sides, the narrow sides often grooved in alternating directionʼ – Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 33). The best parallel are the kerbstones GP 377–381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIa–e.
GP 377 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIa
GP 378 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIb
GP 379 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIc
GP 380 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VId
GP 381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIe

References ⓘ
No references

 ⓘ
Fyndplats
Bildsten påträffad troligen 1954-55 i kyrkan, men oklart var.

Nuvarande lokalisering
Gotlands museums magasin på Visborgsslätt.

Beskrivning
Fragment av kantsten (period A), vars sidor är 40 och 28 cm. Spår av kantdekor.

Inskrift
Ingen inskrift

Datering
Kan inte dateras med säkerhet, men tillhör perioden cirka 400-600.

Tolkning
Ingen tolkning.

AA

Title
GP 414 Stenkyrka kyrka 25

Gotlands Museum ID ⓘ
C10994

Jan Peder Lamm ID
253


Last modifed Jun 25, 2024

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Developer Data
Identifier: GP0414-3D
ID: 4945
3D-model
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