Nutida gudstjänst och medeltida kyrkorum : Förhållandet mellan det sena 1900-talets liturgireform och det medeltida gudstjänstrummet i Svenska kyrkan

Sammanfattning: The central focus of this dissertation concerns the question of whether and in what way there is a connection between the development of the Church of Sweden Service Book (kyrkohandboken) of 1942 and 1986 and changes in designing the structure of the liturgical space of the medieval church buildings. This study has two means of approach: first there is an examination of the process of liturgical change primarily during the latter part of the 20th century in its relationship to the medieval worship space; secondly there is a case study of the same process related to a specific church building – the medieval Church of St Mary (Mariakyrkan) at Sigtuna. All through this research the discussion on the order of divine service and church space is being held together in a unit, in order to interpret the changes of the interior of the local parish churches.The liturgical breaking point is set to the year of 1969 when the newly appointed Commission for the Church of Sweden Service Book got the official possibility to carry out liturgical experimental work in ten parishes in each of the thirteen dioceses. The hitherto uniform liturgical structure was broken in favour of various forms of services depending on local resources, but also related to a common liturgical structure. These new forms created a new situation for the Preservation Department of the National Heritage Board in their policy concerning possible changes due to local, liturgical projects.The medieval church buildings are an important part of the Swedish heritage. The result of this study shows that liturgical changes related to the intentions of the present Church of Sweden Service Book are of vital importance first of all for the worshipping congregation and secondly for the church building itself as a living and integrated part of the Swedish heritage. The decentralization of the Preservation Department from a national to a regional level has been interpreted in this study as an ambition from the Department to be physically closer to the different church buildings at the time of the actual decision process concerning a forthcoming restoration. The church building with its liturgical space has to serve the worshipping congregation. Thereby – and only so – the interior of the church also has its function as part of the Swedish heritage.