Photos: Kristin Schyllner
The church's history
Tolfta church is mentioned in a document as early as 1314, but also in the Upplandslagen in 1330–1334 when it is mentioned as an old church. The church is located on a ridge of the Västlandsåsen and is a towerless ashlar church of Upland type, a so-called hall church. The church is placed in an east-west direction and was built at the beginning of the 14th century with a high wooden vault and without tapering choirs. The church's sacristy has been shown in later investigations to be older than the church itself. It may have been a farm chapel for the knight Erengisle Båt at Brogård.
Tolfta church is a fine example of an older church building. We can emphasize right from the start that there is hardly any church with such well-preserved chalk paintings and many ancient monuments in the area indicate an ancient settlement. The name Tolfta comes from the word tolft and can have two different meanings. The parish has belonged to Roden's ship class, which means that half a crew of rowers could be taken out of this parish. The other explanation could be that in the Upplandslagen there are two kinds of churches – Hundred and Twelver churches.
In the 15th century, the current armory was built and the entrance gate in the west wall was blocked up. In the middle of the same century, the current brick vaults and pillars were broken up, giving the church's interior a new look. Between the years 1450–1500, the church received its fantastic plaster paintings, which were carried out by the painters of the Tierps school. The motifs are said to be taken from the Biblia Pauperum - the Bible of the poor.
During the 18th century, the church changed both interior and exterior. The church now got its large windows, except for the chancel window that has been there since construction. In a fire in 1802, the high pointed clapboard roof burned and the steeple rider disappeared. When the fire was extinguished, it turned out that the vaults of the church were completely undamaged. During the reconstruction, the roof got its current shape. Around the same time, the walls of the church were whitewashed, but the interior ceiling was left untouched. About 80 years later, the old murals were produced again.