Fole Church
building on Gotland, Sweden
Fole Church (Swedish: Fole kyrka) is a medieval church in Fole on the Swedish island of Gotland. The Romanesque tower is the oldest part of the otherwise largely Gothic church. It belongs to the Church of Sweden and lies in the Diocese of Visby.
History
The present church was preceded by a Romanesque stone church. Of this church, the tower remains and is thus the oldest part of Fole Church. It dates from circa 1200. The Romanesque church was gradually replaced with the current, more Gothic church. During the middle of the 13th century, the choir and about half of the nave were rebuilt, and a few decades later, the rest of the nave. The rebuilt church was inaugurated in 1280.
The church has remained relatively intact since.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Fole Church” as building on Gotland, Sweden. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as building on Gotland, Sweden. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q940840. VIAF identifies the subject as 8318148997704559870003. Authority coordinates are 57.651, 18.545. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1200 and 1280.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Fole Church”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Fole Church primary sources, Fole Church archive and Fole research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Fole Church”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Fole Church” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.