This tour takes you though medieval Skaraborg, where you will get an insight into what society looked like in the Middle Ages. In some places, you can use Augmented Reality to see 3D models of archaeological objects. You need to be at the location to be able to see these.
First, listen to the story and then click on the AR symbol in the image above.
This will bring up the image of the Adalvard Chalice itself, one of the communion cups found in Bishop Adalvard's crypt in the 18th century. It is likely that the communion chalice was placed in Adalvard's grave in 1064.
The story in text:
There has been a church on this site for 1000 years. According to the Västgöta Law list of bishops, it was under Bishop Adalvard the Elder that construction of the first church was begun in the mid-11th century, while the church that stands there now was completed in the year 1150.
Bishop Adalvard lies buried in the Romanesque crypt of Skara Cathedral, and two communion chalices were discovered in the tomb. On one, discovered during excavation in the 18th century it says: “ADALVVARDUS PECCATOR”, Adalvard, Sinner.
Be sure to visit the crypt if you go into the church.
In the 13th century the church was altered in the Gothic style. A certain church was used as a model – can you guess which one? If you tip your head back and look up towards the tower you will perhaps come to think of another well-known church with two high western towers. One more clue: can you see the animal heads with curved horns that stick out from the tower high up there? That's right – the model is called Notre Dame de Paris. The Gothic style involved building high and letting in light – the high window above the entrance is an example of this.
In the mediaeval Skara Cathedral there was something that was more remarkable than both the communion chalices and the glass windows – a relic that could be worth the whole journey – a thorn from Christ's crown of thorns! The thorn was brought to the cathedral by one of Skara’s most prominent bishops – Brynolf Algotsson – in the 13th century. Many pilgrims came to see the thorn, which the bishop had received from the king of Norway.
However, nobody knows where the thorn is today – according to legend, it was bricked into one of the cathedral walls to escape confiscation by King Gustav Vasa in the Reformation in the 16th century.