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.
The story in text:
According to tradition, it was Erik the Lisp and Lame who had this church built in the mid-13th century to commemorate the battle of Lena in 1208. It was one of the bloodiest encounters between the houses of Erik and Sverker.
A short way from the church, past the belltower and the road, there stands a monument commemorating the battle. The force of the House of Erik under Erik Knutsson was greatly outnumbered by the Danish enemy under Sverker the Younger– yet the House of Erik managed to win. Thanks to the victory at Lena the House of Erik retakes the throne. But the defeated enemy returns. Two years later there is a new encounter at Gestilren a few kilometres south of here.
When the monument was raised in 1894, it was not known where the battle actually took place. But at the beginning of the 20th century, a strange find was made by a farmer in Lena. He was out ploughing at Humlegården in the valley not far from the church and there he found slabs covering a mass grave. A number of skeletons lay thrown in disarray – soldiers who had fallen in the battle.
If you turn your gaze towards the church you can see that it has three towers – so-called ridge turrets. It is said that they were added in the 16th century to symbolise the meeting of three kings that took place in Lena in 1258. Birger Jarl, his son King Valdemar and King Håkon of Norway met here.
Today we know that the church was built as early as the 12th century. It was extended and enlarged in the 15th century, and decorated with paintings by Master Amund, paintings which however were painted over in the mid-18th century. The church exterior, with the three ridge turrets, is unique in Sweden. In the church there is also a 12th-century font, a 13th-century Madonna and a door with a wrought iron handle depicting St George and the Dragon, probably made at the end of the 13th century.
Birger Jarl was often in Lena at the so-called Lenaborg. It was a large stone building which is in ruins today. If you have time for a walk you can take the path up to the ruins of Lena stronghold. Follow the road and turn left onto a path signposted Lenaborg.