St. Mary, St. Olaf, and St. Peter ... oh my!

---

So, for the last two days we have been running around Sigtuna and Stockholm looking at old stuff ... in a history class, go figure ...

St. Olaf's, St. Mary's, and St. Peter's are old churches that are walking distance from our school. The only one of the three is still operational (St. Mary's).

St. Mary's was beautiful. From the outside it is breathtaking and inside it has been fully restored - though it is now lutheran rather than the original Dominican. The candlabra is for prayer candles and is basically the first thing you see when you walk into the church, I thought that the design was very interesting because it is more clean and classic then what I would typically associate with a historical church.

St. Peters was where the King went to mass way back when. You can still see his special room above the ground level where he would be able to see over the heads of the peasants. Just as we got to St. Peters there was (I'm assuming) a heavy metal goth band finishing a music video. There were lots of people in goth clothing and white make up and some curious props that you wouldn't expect to see in a church.

At one time, the town had 5 churches in a row. It must have been really impressive! On feast days the bishop would lead all of the nobles down the road and they would stop at each church and pray.

P.S. - I promise more fun pictures and stories about my Stockhol adventure soon.

---

Photos

St Mary 6
I thought that this was a really cool leaf wall hanging. It is made out of different kinds of textiles.

1757 tomb
This is a family tomb located right in between St. Mary's and St. Olaf's. It must have been an important family, but we couldn't figure out who they were.

St. Olaf
This is the view from the entrance to St. Olaf's ... pretty impressive for the decrepid remains of a church.

St. Peter 2
This was the royal balcony. It is completely opposite the altar and about half a story above the ground.