Domkyrkan, Gothenburg’s cathedral, is the third big religious building to occupy the rectangular sliver of land between Kyrkogatan and Kungsgatan. The first two cathedrals on this site were destroyed by fire in 1721 and 1802. But the current one, a neoclassical block with a green copper clock tower, has stood firm since 1815.
Designed by city architect Carl Wilhelm Carlberg, the man behind Gunnebo Slott, Domkyrkan remains open for worship and is still the main church for many people living in Gothenburg.
Busy shopping streets flank the entire building, but its neat gardens full of geraniums and flowering shrubs are quite peaceful. Once you step past the stone columns that surround the doors and enter the cathedral itself, it’s easy to forget that you’re in the middle of Sweden’s second-biggest city.
The interiors (undergoing renovation when we last visited) are unusually sober, save for the baroque-style altar, which was apparently saved when fire ripped through the previous cathedral.
Sadly Carl Wilhelm Carlberg, the architect who gave Gothenburgers a new place to worship after two successive fires, never got to see the fruits of his labour – he died a year before the cathedral was completed.
Domkyrkan
Kyrkogatan 28
Gothenburg
Free entry
+46 317 316 600
svenskakyrkan.se
Mon–Fri 10am–6.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm
Last updated: September 2014
