The first crutch on site was inaugurated in 1633 in the name of Gustav II Adolf, the year after his death in the Battle of Lützen.
History
At first there was a temporary wooden church in the same place called "Brädekyrkian". Brädekyrkian, was completed in 1621. The church thus came into place in the same year that the city of Gothenburg was laid out. After Brädekyrkan, a new church was inaugurated in 1633, but the church was destroyed in a fire in 1721. In the same fire, over 200 residential buildings in the area also burned down. This "first" cathedral went under the names Gustavi church, Gustav II Adolfs church and the Swedish church. A new church was built again and this too burned down in 1802 together with the majority of residential buildings.
After the fire, the cemetery could no longer be used. With this, a new cemetery had to be built, it became the "New Cemetery" which was inaugurated in 1804 at Stampen.
The cathedral you see today is therefore the third. Today's church was completed in 1815 and completely rebuilt from scratch..
Dimensions of the cathedral
The current cathedral from 1815 is designed in a classicist style. The church is 59.4 meters long and 38 meters wide and the nave is 22.86 meters wide. The height of the longhouse inside is 14.25 meters and the height of the tower 52.85 meters. The outer walls are made of yellow so-called Dutch brick.
Baptism pound
The baptismal font in the church was donated in 1882 from wholesaler A F Nilsson. It is cast in bronze and is 150 cm high in Romanesque style..
The bells of the tower
All the tower's four bells together weigh about 13.8 tons. Together with the striking bells for the movement, they weigh a total of 15.5 tons. The weight of these bells is the heaviest weight of bells in the same tower in Sweden. In 1908, an electric ringing device was installed, before that the bells were rung by hand.
Cemetery
The former churches were, as usual, churches with ceremonies around funerals and were buried next to the church. But after the fire in 1802, no more burials took place at the church. After the fire, the land was turned into a square (Kyrkotorget), but those who had been buried were not moved, but left to lie under the square.
Today, there is a memorial plaque on the east side of the chancel commemorating those who rest on the site.
Some other information about the Church
Lighting
The cathedral was the first church in Sweden to have central heating in 1852. The following year, 1853, gas lights were installed as lighting in the church.
The top of the cathedral with a view
You can take the lift up a bit and then walk the rest of the way with 151 steps up to the cathedral tower. From there you can enjoy the view of Gothenburg. The tower is 52.85 meters high.
The wall clock from the 18th century
The partly white and gilded wall clock in the church is from the 1800s and was saved from the fire in 1802.