History of Sweden: A Captivating Guide to Swedish History, Starting from Ancient Times through the Viking Age and Swedish Empire to the Present by History Captivating

Author:History, Captivating
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

Illustration 16: Construction on Uppsala Cathedral began in the 13th century.

Likewise, many of the artworks within the churches and palaces of the time were done by foreign artists. Artworks in churches obviously had a religious theme, and the paintings, woodwork, and sculptures within the church or its grounds looked much like what could be found in other northern European nations.

With the coming of the Protestant Reformation came the removal or destruction of much religious art, not only in Sweden but also throughout northern and central Europe, where Protestantism took root. The reason for this was the Protestant belief that the Catholic Church had strayed too far from the edicts against idolatry, which is the worship of idols and images rather than of God.

In the early days of the Reformation and before Vasa’s establishment of the Church of Sweden, iconoclasts (people who saw the display of religious images as blasphemous) sporadically rose up throughout the country. As you might imagine, these riots and the hostility toward religious images in general at a time when religion was almost as important as food caused a decline in the arts.

However, as time went by, people throughout Protestant Europe, including Scandinavia, began to portray non-religious scenes and images. These were not only paintings of monarchs, nobility, and rich merchants but also “everyday” people, such as farmers and builders.

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