Before you stands Storkyrkan, Stockholm's oldest church, first mentioned in 1279 and for centuries the city's only parish. Christian II was crowned here in 1520, a few days before the Bloodbath. But inside it keeps two treasures wrapped in mystery.

1Six suns over Stockholm

The first is Vädersolstavlan, the 'Sun Dog Painting'. It shows Stockholm under a sky crossed by rings and false suns. Its inscription says these signs were seen on 20 April 1535, between seven and nine in the morning. Today we know they were haloes, an optical effect caused by ice crystals. At the time, though, they looked like an omen. A 17th-century chronicle claims that the reformer Olaus Petri, whose statue is in front of you, interpreted the signs and that this cost him a trial before Gustav Vasa. A study in 1999 showed that the surviving painting is a copy made around 1636; nobody knows where the original is, or whether it ever existed.

2The knight and the dragon

The second is the great carving of Saint George and the Dragon by Bernt Notke, consecrated in 1489. It is usually linked to Sten Sture the Elder's victory at the Battle of Brunkeberg (1471). The most curious part is invisible: it is a reliquary, and inside the saint's chest were placed bones attributed to Saint George and six other saints.

3What to look for

  • The statue of Olaus Petri, the man who brought the Mass into Swedish.
  • The rose window on the north front.
  • The Baroque tower, remodelled in the 18th century on medieval walls.
Old painting of Stockholm under a sky with several suns and rings of light
Vädersolstavlan: the haloes over Stockholm on 20 April 1535, in the copy from around 1636.
Gilded sculpture of Saint George on horseback slaying the dragon inside Storkyrkan
Saint George and the Dragon by Bernt Notke (1489): a reliquary holding bones of seven saints.

Documented

The inscription on Vädersolstavlan dates the haloes to 20 April 1535, and a 1999 analysis showed the present painting is a copy from around 1636; Bernt Notke's Saint George was unveiled in 1489 as a reliquary.

Oral tradition

The trial of Olaus Petri for interpreting the suns comes from a later chronicle, and the link between the Saint George and the Battle of Brunkeberg is a common interpretation, not a signed fact.

Sources and credits

Svenska kyrkan, Stockholms domkyrkoförsamling (official Storkyrkan website); Peter Gillgren, «Vasarenässansen» (2009); Swedish Wikipedia, «Vädersolstavlan» and «Storkyrkan».

Photos:

  • Pink and white north front of Storkyrkan with a rose window and the statue of Olaus Petri in front: ArildV, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Old painting of Stockholm under a sky with several suns and rings of light: Jacob Heinrich Elbfas, Dominio público.
  • Gilded sculpture of Saint George on horseback slaying the dragon inside Storkyrkan: Palickap, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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