The three Cathedrals that we visited on our Vacation 2012 Sven G. Hyberts, Deacon TCC When we go places, we often stop at a church if nothing else to find a calm place to recover from the journey; sort ourselves and our souls, lit a few candles before doing something else: giving ourselves out on adventures! It so happened that we visited three Cathedrals during our trip to Sweden and Iceland and I d like to share some of this. All of the Cathedrals are Lutheran, which means that they are a site of a bishop. They are all active, each in their way. Lund Cathedral Maybe not the most beautiful of the three, but the oldest and it is mine. I.e., my bishop whom I grew up under is situated here. A lot has changed in Sweden since I left 25 years ago the church is no longer part of the state since 1999 before this the Lutheran Church of Sweden was that you were born into. You could exit the church, which you still can do. If you choose to remain, you will be charged an automatic 2% in church tax. Many choose to exit these days, but then are surprised they have to pay for the funeral.
The history of the Cathedral in Lund is rich. It is one of the very oldest churches built is Scandinavia and have three altars. The one in the crypt is the oldest (consecrated in 1123), the high altar in front of the building and the low altar later. It once was the archbishop site of Denmark the story goes that the King of Denmark became so paranoid of the power of the archbishop here that he divided Lund in West Lund and East Lund (the once Cathedral in Dalsby is no longer a Cathedral, but they were close enough to each other to be seen from the towers of respectively building.) The building is visited by around 700 000 people a year, making it the most visited church in Scandinavia. Even not beautiful, it is the best example of Romanesque architecture in northern Europe. Most, like us, come to see the Medieval Astronomical clock play (there are only two others in Europe, one in Rostock, Germany, and one I guess in Notre Dame, Strasbourg, France). On top, two knights cross their swords every hour; equal many strikes as the hour strikes. In the middle, seven figures comes out and bows the Christ child the seven figures are the Three Magi with a servant each and one figure that shows the way with a sword, held like a cross. In the crypt, there are figures around the pillars holding up the church building, leading to the myth of the giant Finn, who according to the legend built the building. According to the ledged, when the man (a monk) returned and said the name, Finn became angry and wrapped his arms around a pillar in order to pull it out and destroy the cathedral. But at that moment he was turned into stone, and that is why there is a stone man hugging a pillar in the Lund Cathedral this day (probably this carving actually represents Samson from the Bible). [note: the man in the picture is not related to us, just happened to be threre.]
Växjö Cathedral Växjö is located in Småland, the province from which most Swedes emigrated to America. Ingvar Kamprard, the founder of IKEA grew up in this province, and my dad counts this as his, though he grew up further north. Hence it is maybe fitting that I caught my dad also on this picture. In Växjö you can also find the House of the Emigrants. Småland has always been Swedish in contrast to Skåne. In many ways I know less about this Cathedral than I know about the one in Lund. We stopped here however on our trip to the Glass Country, home of such places as Orrefors and Kosta. Växjö is right in the bible belt of Sweden. When we came to the Cathedral, there was a rehearsal of confirmands all boys (!). I do not know the reason for this, there is no separation of men and women in the church, as it maybe was several centuries ago. The bishop of Lund is a woman, and she succeeded by another woman. I do remember however when I grew up, there were controversies in some Cathedral sites; male bishops that would not ordain women. The sanctuary is pretty small considering that this is a Cathedral. The building also has its roots into the 12 th century, but has been altered many times since this. The building material is red brick and the towers are relatively young, from 1960, but there had been tall spires before. The building style is Gothic, the one you can find on most Cathedrals in Scandinavia, including Roskilde west of Copenhagen and Uppsala north of Stockholm. Roskilde and Uppsala are the present archbishop sites of Denmark and Sweden, respectively.
The place where you light candles in Växjö is made entirely of glass, and symbolizes the the Tree of Life - even though you see an apple. It is the apple that Adam and Eve did not taste; they tasted the one of knowledge instead. (And, if you wondered, it is my mom putting in a candle The Christ candle is in the middle, you take your light from it - literally and figuratively.) Skaholt Cathedral OK, so I straddle this a bit I had to do research, even finding the name of the Cathedral. We usually fly Iceland Air when we fly to Sweden. (To make things confusing, we actually fly to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark before we take the new bridge over the straight to Malmö ) It is usually the cheapest alternative; it is family friendly but has that you have to change planes at Keflavik. Keflavik is not Reykjavik Keflavik is a NATO airbase, very much used to be locking in the nuclear Russian submarines from attacking the North American continent. The airbase is the reason why a small country like Iceland of around 300,000 people can have an international airport.
This was the first time we took up the offer and stayed on Iceland between planes. If I remember correctly, you can stay up to 3 days on the island before being surcharged. Usually, we just go through Iceland So being new, we took up what new tourists are supposed to do we went to the Blue Lagoon and we went on the Golden Circle tour, to where the ancient Thing (the Viking form of town meeting, held for larger gathering than towns), the waterfall and the geysers. (Our tour guide would be upset here Geyser, the one giving name to them all, is no longer blowing. We saw Strokkur.) Towards the end, we stopped at Skaholt. (I took this picture because Eiyafjallajokul the volcano that erupted 2010 and closed all intercontinental air traffic between the continents as well as in Europe is supposedly in the background.) Skaholt is the ancient seat of the Icelandic bishops. The first of 32 catholic bishops took his seat there in 1056 and in the wake of the reformation in 1540, 13 Lutheran bishops sat there until 1801, when the seat was moved to the capital. (So, I guess, technically no bishop is here anymore, though they do have a retreat site next to the building where if you like can stay you have to vow not to speak for a couple of days though )
The Evangelical Lutheran Church is still state church of Iceland. You are taxed a mandatory 10% of your salary, but if you like you can alter this to the church of your choice. I do not think there are many religions outside Christianity of the island I do not think there is a Mosque yet as there are now being built many in Sweden. (The first Mosque was built in Malmö during the time I studied.) By the time we came to Skaholt, we were a bit guided out. In fact, our interest was mostly on how to get a good cup of tea We did. But first, we took a few pictures of the Cathedral the guide was especially proud of the mural of Christ that is made in Icelandic art and with the colors of nature on the island. Afterword, We really did enjoy our vacation the beginning of it was a bit wet, but it cleared up towards the end. We enjoyed a wonderful day on Iceland and yes it is very peaceful very similar to northern Sweden. The people may not talk much, but they are always helpful if you need help. Maybe not everyone can give you an example what is written in the Bible, but they are pretty well versed in what makes the Heaven and Earth. Most are C&E Christians just like here going to Church for baptism, weddings and funerals, Christmas and sometimes Easter. I watched a movie called The Last Days of Arctic on the plane a documentary made by an Icelandic photographer. It documents how people of the North are coping with the changes happening, both global warming and political intervention. I would so like to show it to all of you, and if everything goes well, maybe we all can get together in September sharing vacation pictures. We got about 1500 of them Until then, Peace in Christ.