DET MÅNGFUNKTIONELLA KYRKORUMMET UR ETT BRUKARPERSPEKTIV Kyrkorummet som arbetsplats, heligt rum och kulturarv Ingrid Fjordhult

Abstract

The study of this essay takes place in the churches of Vessigebro and Örslösa, two villages located in south of Sweden. The church buildings are both built in the 1900s and were remodeled as multifunctional churches during the last ten years. Today the buildings houses space for worship, office space and activities associated with parish houses. This essay explores the relationship between the employee in the local church parish and the remodeled church building: the building as a work place, as a place for worship and as a place with cultural historical value. Interviews with two employees in Örslösa and two employees in Vessigebro were conducted in April 2017, and constitute the prime source material. The employees’ views of Örslösa church as a work place varies: some benefits from the modernity, while others experience environmental problems in their working place. Both of those interviewed in Vessigebro consider the working environment to be principally well adjusted – even though the floorplan constitutes a disadvantage. Those interviewed have different and somewhat inconsistent opinions about how to handle “the sacredness” of the room. In Vessigbro the employees no longer perceive the parish part of the building to be a church in an emotional way – while intellectually considering the whole building to be a church. In Örslösa one of the interviewed experiences trouble to feel the “church feeling” during church services. None of the interviewed consider the buildings cultural historical value to have been reduced. On the contrary, most considered the remodeling to have added a value to a building they earlier never considered to be of high value.