SANKT PETRI CHURCH / KLIPPAN
Not many people (who are not local to the area) visit Klippan, a small industrial town in the south of Sweden.
Among those who do visit, most come for the same reason – to visit the St. Petri Church, designed by Swedish master architect Sigurd Lewerentz.
Notoriously difficult to work with due to his perfectionist tendencies, Lewerentz’ legacy is defined by quality over quantity.
Many architects have produced more buildings than him, but few have given the same attention to detail.
In the process of designing the church, Lewerentz invited several of his time’s most prestigious artists to collaborate with him, including sculptor Christian Berg, who created an ivory crucifix and Sven Erixon, who designed the rich tapestry hung in the main room, with two sides, one blue called “Resurrection” and one red named “Passion”. The tapestry was woven by textile artist Barbro Nilsson.
The belfry, with four bells representing the four apostles Petrus, Pontus, Andreas and Tomas, has bell-verses written by poet Bo Setterlind.
St. Petri Church is widely considered to be Lewrentz’ finest accomplishment.
Inaugurated in 1966, the main room was designed according to the concept of a completely quadratic church space, resting on a large iron cross, centrally placed in the room.
In the west, the ceiling height is five metres, and in the east, six. The ceiling is shaped like a series of waves, symbolising how life can be experienced as a tidal fluctuation of ebb and flow.
Of particular importance are the bricks used to build the church: no stones were allowed to be altered by the builders, but should according to Lewerentz be used exactly as they were, a representation of how every person, regardless of their idiosyncrasies, has a meaningful role to fill in society and in life.
Many of the stones were personally selected by the architect at a scrap warehouse.
The main entrance is not easy to find, which is precisely how Lewerentz planned it – the gate to the kingdom of God should not be easily accessible.
Already in the church porch you find a small altar, which is an old custom dating back to the 2nd century.
Similarly, the clergy bench next to the altar in the main room, is also inspired by a custom from the same early era of Christianity.
“There are no unnecessary decorations that risk distracting from the content of the ceremony.”
One of most original features of the church is the design of the christening font. The font is located by the entrance to the main room, shaped like a rock with the floor arched upwards. There is a crack in the floor, with water flowing underneath, representing when Moses cracked the rock with his staff, making water flow from it.
The font itself is a giant mussel, transported to Klippan from the Indian Ocean.
From a tap placed above the mussel, and dripping into the crack in the floor, there is a continuous drip of water, representing the never ceasing grace of God.
The entire floor of the church room is slanted towards the altar, making people feel a natural gravitation towards the centre of the room, where the priest holds his ceremony. In the ceiling, chimney-like lanterns spread their warm light, reminiscent of how the light of God is present in everyone’s life.
In line with Martin Luther’s idea that there should be a close connection between the design of the pulpit and the ceremony, the pulpit and the altar form a unity. There are no unnecessary decorations that risk distracting from the content of the ceremony, instead all attention is given to the visitor’s relationship and dialogue with God.
