GP 540 Visby St Hans I

Context and Discovery
Due to several archaeological excavations during the 19th century, in particular, between 1980 and 1986, the architectural history of the double church St Per (Peter) and St Hans (John) in the city of Visby, which is only preserved as ruins, can largely be reconstructed (Svahnström 1985, pp. 27–31; Swanström 1986; Lagerlöf/Svahnström 1991, pp. 56–58; Andrén 2011, pp. 97–100). St Per, the southern of the two churches, was built as a Romanesque building in the second half of the 12th century. In the course of the 13th century, it was expanded to a two-aisled domed hall building with tower, which was finished by the end of the century. Already in the first half of the 13th century, the church of St Hans was erected just north of St Per in such a way that the two buildings had a shared wall and were connected to each other by an opening. This building represented a three-aisled hall with eastern transept and a choir. By the end of the 13th century, St Hans was considerably expanded. The northern wall was shifted, and a fourth aisle added in the north, the western wall was shifted, as well, and a tower erected. In the 16th century, both churches were partly demolished, and their decay began. During the 18th century, they were used as a stone quarry.

Below the tower and the northern aisle, remains of a small Romanesque church have been revealed (Swanström 1986), dating to the first half of the 12th century, which probably represents the first church of St Hans. According to Guta saga (Peel 1999, p. 8–9), there must have been an even earlier (wooden) church building at the spot: Around the middle of the 11th century, a man called Botair from Akebäck is said to have built the first church on Gotland (Allhelgonakyrka ʻAll Saints Churchʼ), at the spot, where later St Per was erected. This building, however, could not be verified archaeologically. Nevertheless, several finds of typical early Christian grave goods, so-called kyrkogårdsfynd, indicate the existence of an 11th-century churchyard. The 11th century Type E picture stones GP 541 St Hans II and GP 543 St Hans 3, may also be connected with this Viking Age churchyard. Swanström (1986) regards the newly discovered 12th-century Romanesque building as the Guta saga’s Allhelgonakyrka itself, which, in particular for chronological reasons and as the saga clearly refers to St Per and not to St Hans, is not very convincing (Andrén 2011, pp. 98–99).

Whether there had been a pagan cult site before Allhelgonakyrka was built, as Guta saga indicates, remains unproven. According to Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 40, 47–48, 58–61; 1964), picture stones of the cist stone Type, to which Visby St Hans I apparently belongs (see IX), were used either pairwise representing grave markers or in a group of four that form a cist-shaped grave or sacrificial monuments, which could be regarded as ʻpagan altarsʼ. However, all known cist stones have been discovered in secondary contexts (Stenkvist 2014).

The picture stone fragment was discovered by Efraim Lundmark in 1914 and first published in a newspaper article (Gotlands Allehanda 1914-12-02). It was incorporated into the new western wall of the nave, which was added by the end of the 13th century or around 1300. In 1914, it lay on top of the demolished part of the wall just below the northernmost window, with its obverse facing upwards (Hamner/Widée 1940, pp. 9–10, with sketch of find situation, cf. ATA, run- och bildstenssamlingen 1719:10 and dnr 868-1914). Lundmark pointed out that the stone had to be removed from its find place and transferred to Gotlands Museum, as the local population used the ruin as a place for emptying out vessels and thereby hit their buckets against the picture stone’s decorated surface. “In 1939, it was removed from the masonry and erected in the adjoining ruin of S:t Per” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 144). Today, several medieval stone slabs and fragments are kept in S:t Per, leaning against the wall or piled on top of one another; the picture stone, however, could not be traced. In the 2005, church ruin inventory it is stated that the stone possibly is covered by earth and simply invisible.

In 1925, a second picture stone has been discovered inside the ruin of S:t Hans, GP 541 Visby St Hans II.
GP0541
GP 543 Visby St. Hans 3

Measurements, Material and Condition
“Limestone slab, 16–23 cm thick. The stone has been mutilated to a rectangle of 83 cm length and 52 cm width, with secondary edges trimmed even on three sides. Along the shorter of these edges, there is an equally secondary groove on the obverse. The obverse probably is naturally even. It is curved and severely abraded by footsteps. Of the original narrow sides, no remains are preserved” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 144).

Description of Ornament and Images
A 52 cm long part of a 20 cm wide border is preserved in the middle of the fragment, representing an interlace pattern. “The fragment is decorated with carved lines with rounded bottoms and of by now rather varying width as well as with chiselled-down background fields within the 20 cm wide horizontal border, above which a horse’s foot, a dog(?), and insignificant remains of other figures can be seen” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 144).

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
Due to the orientation of the animal figures, the remarkably broad border must have been aligned horizontally, which indicates a very large so-called cist stone, a gable-like slab with wave-shaped upper edge. The cist stone group contains only a few middle- and in particular late-type picture stones, belonging to ʻAbschnittʼ B, C/D and E according to Lindqvist. Due to its decoration and dimensions, Lindqvist regards the stone from St Hans as a Type C monument, dating to around AD 700. However, those late-type picture stones can only be roughly dated to the period between the 8th century (or rather around AD 800) and circa 1000. The preserved interlace pattern is comparable to the border decoration on many Type C picture stones, in particular, those belonging to Lindqvist’s ʻLärbro groupʼ (cf. GP 171 Hangvar kyrka III). The best match, however, is provided by GP 561 Väte Gullarve, which Lindqvist ascribes to his small ʻhybrid groupʼ (Hybridengruppe) of ʻstones with horizontally oriented cornersʼ (Steine mit horizontalgerichteten Ecken).

The extraordinary dimensions of this cist stone are stressed by Lindqvist (1941/42 I, p. 48): “But even really large monuments of the cist stone Type appear to have been produced during Period C, too. I cannot help but see something other than the remains of one of those in the peculiar fragment Visby S:t Hans I. Of the once apparently very rich imagery in its panels, enough is preserved to demonstrate that the border ran horizontally, as the lower limit of the decorations. The border’s unique width – 20 cm as compared to merely 12 cm on Alskog K. [GP 3 Alskog kyrka]! – indicates that the slab once must have had an image field of very impressive dimensions.” The Type D cist stone from Alskog church, which represents the largest cist stone known, is 15 cm thick, 105–108 cm high and 112–114 cm wide, with its wave-shaped top edge and both side edges missing. The cist stone from St Hans could have been up to twice as large.
GP0171
GP 561 Väte Gullarve
GP 3 Alskog kyrka

References
Hamner/Widée 1940, pp. 9–10; Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 48; II, p. 144, fig. 558; 1964, p. 68; Svahnström 1985, p. 31; Lagerlöf/Svahnström 1991, p. 58; Stenkvist 2014 II, p. 23, fig. 32.

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