Gothenburg Cathedral ()Hus för hus i Göteborgs stadskärna, ed. Gudrun Lönnroth, Göteborgs Stadsmuseum, Göteborg, 2003. p. 212 >Eric Cederbourg, Ernst Kallmeyer, En kort Beskrifning öfwer den wid Wästra Hafwet belägna, wäl bekanta och mycket berömliga Siö- Handel- och Stapul Staden Götheborg ("A brief description of ... Gothenburg"), Gothenburg, 1739 (facsimile ed., Spamersche Buchdruckerie, Leipzig 1920) pp. 40–41, 152. is a cathedral in Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden. It is the seat of the bishop of the diocese of Gothenburg in the Church of Sweden.
Original church Before the first cathedral was inaugurated in 1633, a temporary church known as the Gothenburg stave church () stood on the site for approximately 12 years. This was one of the city's first buildings and the first church in the current city of Gothenburg, which is the third city founded at the mouth of the Göta River and the second to have that name.Eric Larsson, Gustavi domkyrkas klockor. En historisk återblick ("The bells of Gustav's cathedral, a historical review"), Simonssons Tryckeri, Gothenburg, 1975, pp. 8–9, 10, 15.Karl IX:s Göteborg – på Hisingen ("Charles IX's Gothenburg on Hisingen", 1975), Ralf Scander, ed.
The first cathedral
The rectory was completed in 1624,Hugo Fröding, Berättelser ur Göteborgs äldsta historia, 1603–1680 ("Narratives of Gothenburg's oldest history"), 1908, pp. 99, 206. and the construction of a new church on the site of the stave church was announced in 1627. King Gustavus Adolphus created a tax to pay for the work.Helge Almquist, Göteborgs historia: Grundläggningen och de första hundra åren: Från grundläggningen till enväldet(1619–1680) ("Gothenburg's history: the foundation and the first hundred years: From its beginnings to the absolute monarchy"), Göteborgs Jubileumspublikationer, Part I: Göteborgs Litografiska AB, 1929, pp. 305, 307 The initial demand was for a barrel (just over 125 litres) of wheat, oats, barley or rye from each church-owned property in Västergötland province for a three-year period. In a letter to Gothenburg's town council (13 December 1629) the tax was extended for three more years.Octavia Carlén, Göteborg – Ny handbok för resande ("Gothenburg, new guide for travellers"), 1869, pp. 56–59. From 1625 to 1634, construction costs increased to 8,387 Swedish riksdaler.
Construction was led by master mason Lars Nilsson.Folke Reyde, "Gustavi domkyrka före brandkatastrofen 1802" ("Gustavi Cathedral before the disastrous fire of 1802") in Göteborg förr och nu III ("Gothenburg Then and Now III"), ed. Gothenburg hembygdsförbund, Förenade Tryckerier, Göteborg 1964. pp. 78–79, 83, 90–91, 93 The foundation stone was laid by Gothenburg's justitiepresident (judge) Nils Börjesson DrakenbergCarl Gustaf Prytz, Kronologiska Anteckningar rörande Göteborg ("Chronological record touching on Gothenburg"), 2nd ed., Wald. Zachrissons Boktryckeri, Gothenburg, 1898, p.13 on 19 June 1626,A. Rundqvist, R. Scander, A. Bothén, Kronologiska anteckningar om viktigare händelser i Göteborg 1619–1982 ("Chronology of important events in Gothenburg"), 1982, p. 3. and in 1633 the new main building was complete. By 1633, the stave church had been torn down, although its tower remained in use as a guard tower. During the construction period and for some time thereafter, the church was called stora kyrkan (the great church),Axel Ramm, Axel L. Romdahl, Albert Lilienberg, Sixten Strömbom, "Göteborgs Stad" ("City of Göteborg"" in Sveriges städer ("Sweden's cities"), ed. Albin Roosval, Norstedt & Söners Förlag, Stockholm 1921 p. 130 the name used in the accounting records. It remained standing for nine more years,Otto Thulin, Paul Harnesk, Svenska stadsmonografier – Göteborg ("Swedish city monographs – Gothenburg"), Förlags AB Religion & Kultur, Gothenburg 1948 p. 47 until a new tower replaced it in January 1643.Sven Gulin, Olga Dahl, Maja Kjellin Göteborgs hjärta – del II ("Gothenburg's heart, Part II"), 1978, pp. 7–8, 10, 12.
On 10 and 11 August 1633 superintendent Andreas Prytz consecrated the church with two sermons: "On the right use of churches" and "On the consecration of churches". The inauguration is commemorated at the cathedral with an annual sermon on 10 August.Per Adolf Granberg, Staden Göteborgs Historia och Beskrifning: Sednare Delen ("Gothenburg city history and description: latter part"), Elméns och Granbergs tryckeri, Stockholm 1815 sp. 1 The church was not designated as a cathedral (domkyrke) until the 1680s.
No contemporary documents relating to the installation of the church bells have been found. The bells are mentioned retrospectively by Eric Cederbourg (1739):
In the tower were hung three large and beautiful bells, whose strong and harmonious sound could be heard for [over 8 km]; on the north wall of the tower a large, well-founded bell of 6 skeppspund [1,020 kg] weight was erected to chime the hour.
The first tower clock mechanism, made by clockmaker Per Larsson in 1648, was replaced in 1670 by one made by Jacob Hertingk of Stralsund.
The church was built of granite, faced with Dutch bricks and adorned with 18 iron-trimmed Palladian windows placed between buttressing supports. It had an ornate arched entry door with iron fittings. The building was 48.1 metres long, 20.2 metres wide and 26.5 metres high at the pediment roof. It had no transept. The tower wall was 27.6 feet high, not counting its spire. The church roof was clad with oak shingles and topped with copper plates; on the eastern end of the roof was a weather vane in the form of a large copper-gilded sun, which in 1700 had been so weakened that it was replaced with a wooden cap.Carl Lagerberg, Göteborg i äldre och nyare tid ("Gothenburg in older and newer times"), Wald. Zahrissons Förlag, Gothenburg, 1902 p. 64 The cathedral spire was demolished and replaced in 1700.Sven Schånberg, Där! sa unge kungen ("There! said the young king"), 1975, pp. 26, 36, 42–43.
The cathedral interior The cathedral had seventeen octagonal weight-bearing columns: eight on each side of the nave and one in the choir. They had a square socle. Each side was two ells (1.2 metres) wide.
The original pulpit was of the German-Dutch type, and its intarsia and other carving work suggests that it had been crafted either in Lübeck or by some North Germans residing in Gothenburg. It was replaced in the late 1670s and transferred to the newly built Kungälvs Church in 1682. Sculptor Marcus Jaeger the Elder carved the new pulpit with historical images in alabaster and ebony in 1674. He also made the baptismal font and executed numerous carvings on the lecterns and pews.Anders Jarlert and Jakob Lindblad, Försvunna kyrkor i Göteborg ("Vanished churches in Gothenburg"), Tre Böcker Förlag, Gothenburg, 2005, p. 14.
The cathedral included a throne (a royal pew) placed over grave No. 19 to the south of the nave, between the first two pillars from the chancel. Jaeger completed it in the 1680s and was paid 960 silver riksdaler for it. In 1869 tailor Torsten Gunnarsson upholstered the throne in red velvet, probably in honour of Charles XI's 10 September visit to Gothenburg. Four years later, for 400 silver riksdaler, John Hammer painted the king's throne in white alabaster and gold.
The first organ, probably a positive organ with only four to six stops, had been installed by 1648. In 1661 organ builder Hans Horn completed a new pipe organ,Henrik Jansson, Orgelverken i Gustavi Domkyrka 1984, p. 5. and further work on it was completed around 1700. Jaeger was hired in 1697 to produce four Corinthian pillars beneath the organ to elevate it, probably in the west part of the nave, near the tower wall. The organ was repaired several times: in 1696 by Christian Rüdiger, in 1699 by John George Ambthor and in 1707 by Elias Wittig. Both Rüdiger and Ambthor were German organ masters; Wittig was a journeyman.
Cathedral designation
The church was part of the established Church of Sweden and was initially named "Gustavi church" after Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. It was also known as the Swedish Church (), to distinguish it from Gothenburg's German Church (). With the change from superintendency to bishopric and the establishment of a cathedral chapter in 1665,Lilla Uppslagsboken Vol. 4, 1974. p. 513. it was elevated to cathedral status.
Cemeteries The city's oldest cemetery was located at the foot of Kvarnberget, west of Kronhuset – once an armoury and now a historical museum and concert siteChronological Notes on Gothenburg, (Second Extended Edition) CG Prytz, Wald. Zachrissons Boktryckeri, Gothenburg 1898 p.17 – on the corner of the present Torggatan, then called Kyrkogårdsgränden and Sillgatan (now Postgatan).Nils Wimarson, Göteborg – en översikt vid 300-årsjubileet ("Gothenburg, a tercentenary overview"),1923, p. 799.Greta Baum, Göteborgs Gatunamn 1621–2000 ("Gothenburg's street names"), 2001, p. 289. By 1645 the marshy area around the cathedral had been filled with sand and could be used as a burial ground. The square, known by 1846 as Domkyrkoplatsen (Cathedral Square) and by 1883 as Domkyrkoplanen (Cathedral Close) 1883, had since 1644 been demarcated by a wall with arched gates to the north and south.Carl Lagerberg and Otto Thulin, Göteborg under 300 år ("Gothenburg during 300 years"), 1923, pp. 67, 70.
The second cathedral On the night of 15 April 1721 the cathedral, high school and 211 residential buildings in the vicinity of the cathedral burned down. As the cathedral walls remained standing, it was possible to restore the building quite quickly. Barely a month after the fire, at the request of city manager (politieborgmästare) Hans von Gerdes (1637–1723), the architect Paul Ludvig Leyonsparre presented three options for rebuilding the church, the third of which was recommended by county governor (landshövding) Nils Posse.Arvid Beckström, Studier i Göteborgs byggnadshistoria ("Studies in Gothenburg architectural history"), 1923, pp. 37–38, 73–74. The cathedral reopened on 25 May 1722, only 13 months after the fire, with the same dimensions as the old cathedral, but with a tower capital instead of the former spire. The roof proved to be so leaky that county governor Axel Gyllenkrok complained in October 1724 of rain and snow getting through. In December 1725 the city engineer was instructed to draw up proposals for a new copper roof covering, and work began in June 1726.
The tower took another ten years to complete, and city engineer Johan Eberhard Carlberg (an uncle of Carl Wilhelm Carlberg, the architect of the current cathedral) designed a temporary belfry for the churchyard. It could not be put into service until 1726 because the bell had to be cast in a foundry, but it was in use for six years, until 1732, when the new tower was finally brought into service.
The new tower was designed by the builder of the German Christinenkirche tower, the naval master builder Nicolaus Müller. It closely resembled that of the German church, and contemporary pictures of even show it having a similar cap. The tower was octagonal and its top was 26.7 metres above the tower wall. The largest of the three church bells weighed 1,700 kg, while the other two each weighed 1,020 kg. They were cast in 1726 by Erik Näsman, who had moved from Jönköping to Stockholm and who cast a bell for Skara Cathedral the following year.