Swedish Church

We can help you take care of your valuable inventory! 

Conservation means preserving objects. But the objects of the Church of Sweden must not only be preserved. In many cases, they must also be used. The conservation department at Kalmar County Museum has many years of experience working with church inventories and strives for good collaborations where our work and our knowledge will support your business. Or: With our work and our knowledge, we want to be a support for you and your businesses. 

We offer:

  • Conservation and restoration of church furnishings. Textile, painting and in some cases wood and metal
  • Remediation of objects infested with mold or pests
  • Inventories, action programs and cost estimates
  • Basis for Care and maintenance plans
  • Counseling and lectures
  • Antiquarian involvement in, for example, acquisition of storage or display cases

We are well aware of the administration that exists around the church inventories in the form of permits and applications for Church antiquities compensation, and are happy to help you with any questions you may have about it.

Permit and Church Antiquities Allowance (KAE)

The culturally historically valuable inventories are protected by the Cultural Environment Act. This means that they must be stored and looked after well, be included in the inventory list and that they must not be changed or moved without the County Board's approval.

When one of your items needs conservation, you first contact us. We inspect the object and draw up an action program and a cost estimate. The action program contains all the information that the County Administrative Board needs to be able to make decisions. We can write the cost estimate so that it is valid for execution as soon as possible, but we can also make a cost estimate that you use to apply for Church Antiquities Compensation (KAE). KAE is a government grant that is applied for via the diocese in the autumn. It takes quite a while to get a response. After positive notification, you then have two years to use the grant. Therefore, we calculate the cost of the KAE application for execution a couple, three years into the future.

You send the program of measures to your County Administrative Board together with their form (completed) for the application for a permit according to the Cultural Environment Act ch. 4 Church Cultural Monuments.

You apply for KAE at your diocese.

After conservation, we draw up a report with the information required by the diocese and the County Administrative Board.

The process in brief   

  1. The need for conservation is discovered
  2. A conservator is contacted
  3. The conservator draws up action programs and cost estimates
  4. The church applies for permission
  5. The church applies for KAE
  6. Notification is awaited
  7. The church contacts the conservator to order execution
  8. The conservator carries out the work and prepares a report
  9. The report is sent to the Diocese for requisitioning by KAE and to the County Administrative Board

You can read more about KAE on the Church of Sweden's website and your diocesan antiquary can also be helpful.

The National Antiquities Office provides a document called Handbook for ordering and carrying out the conservation of ecclesiastical cultural monuments. It can be downloaded for free from their website.

Textiles and metals in sacred service

Kalmar county museum's conservators have participated in two large inventories of church furnishings in Växjö diocese - one of textiles and one of metal objects. The inventories have, among other things, resulted in two books. The two books, published by Växjö diocese, are anthologies and through their various articles they highlight the objects' symbolism, aesthetics, technology and history. The county museum's conservators contribute several articles.

Textiles in sacred service (arken.se, new window)

Metals in sacred service (arken.se, new window