page_title: Lye Church
section_title: Portals
hierarchical_section_title: Lye Church / Architecture / Exterior / Portals
caption_attribution_description: Galego: Relieve no portal da torre da igrexa de Lye, na illa sueca de Gotland.
context_page_description: Lye Church is a medieval church on Gotland, Sweden. The oldest parts of the church date from the last quarter of the 12th century, and the last major addition was the disproportionately large chancel, built during the second quarter of the 14th century by a workshop known by its notname as Egypticus. The workshop was also responsible for constructing the largest of the church portals, which is also decorated with Gothic stone sculpture. The tower portal contains sculptures attributed to the Romanesque sculptor Sigraf. The church has been little altered since the end of the Middle Ages. Lye Church contains the largest preserved set of medieval stained glass windows in the Nordic countries, and its interior is also decorated by medieval wall paintings, uncovered in the 1950s. The altarpiece is from 1496, and the church also contains a triumphal cross from the same period.
context_section_description: The church has four entrance portals. Three of these are Romanesque: the western entrance in the base of the tower, the northern entrance to the nave and the southern entrance to the nave. The chancel portal is larger and more profusely decorated. 
  The tower portal has a round outer arch which consists of alternating red and grey limestone; the inner arch is made of grey, roughly hewn limestone. Immured as part of the southern post is a  decorated stone container, which may originally have been intended as a sarcophagus or a reliquary but later used as building material. It has been roughly adjusted to fit into the church wall. The exposed sides are decorated with figures in low relief. The short side facing the door depicts the Madonna enthroned while the long side, facing the exterior, depicts scenes which have been interpreted as (from left to right) two legendary creatures fighting, two dragons or possible one dragon with two heads, a warrior with armour and weapons, and a horse. It has been suggested that the subject matter depicted is the story of Sigurd slaying the dragon Fafnir. The reliefs date from the 12th century and have been attributed to the Romanesque artist or workshop Sigraf (floruit c. 1175–1210).
  The northern portal of the nave is the smallest entrance to the church. Its round arched opening is constructed of alternating blocks of limestone and sandstone. It appears to not be original to its position and may have been removed from the earlier, demolished chancel to its present location during the Middle Ages.
  The southern portal of the nave is constructed of alternating red and grey limestone. Its inner section consists of two pillars of convex cubic form supporting a round arch.
  The chancel portal is the largest of the entrances, and Gothic in style. It is a comparatively richly decorated, pointed arch crowned by a wimperg made of grey and red limestone. The tympanum is decorated with sculpted flowers, and the capitals of the nested columns each contain a set of sculptures with the overarching theme being the childhood of Christ. The sculpted eastern capitals show, from left to right, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the birth of Christ, and the annunciation to the shepherds. The western capitals contain scenes showing, from left to right, the Adoration of the Magi and the Massacre of the Innocents. The wimperg above the portal depicts Christ enthroned, with one hand raised in a blessing and the other resting on a book. The sculptures are unusually well preserved, and a few of the figures still contain faint traces of original colour (black, red, and green). The sculptures show several similarities with those at Norrlanda Church and have been described as some of the best examples of the art of Egypticus.
caption: Stone container with a Romanesque frieze immured in the tower portal
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 80D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2019:06:23 17:49:22", "Image Artist": "Bene Riobo", "Image Copyright": "Ver detalles da licenza", "Image ExifOffset": "268", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "950", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4861", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:06:10 11:33:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:06:10 11:33:53", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "415241/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2827819/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "19/4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "43", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "75", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "75", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5700", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3800", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "88104193/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "88104193/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "303024001144", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 55, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000338988"}