Standing on a small bridge across the Fyrisån River in central Uppsala and looking up the western ridge, visitors see an immense length of dark red brick crowned by two pointed spires rising high above every surrounding roof. According to the Church of Sweden, the cathedral's height matches its exact length at 118.7 meters. Walking up the slope across Domkyrkoplan and stepping into the nave reveals a tall, bright interior where straight rows of brick piers draw the eye toward the chancel at the east end.
In Sweden today, the Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan), an Evangelical Protestant church in the Lutheran tradition, is the country's largest religious body. This cathedral holds the chair of its primate, the Archbishop of Uppsala. Yet Uppsala also preserves a deeper medieval Catholic layer: a gilded reliquary containing the remains of Saint Erik (Erik den helige), the king revered as the patron saint of Sweden. Because the archiepiscopal see, the relics of the national patron saint, and the distinction of being the largest church in the Nordic region converge in one place, the library selects Uppsala to represent the religious life of Sweden.
IThe Archiepiscopal See and the Reliquary of Saint Erik
The cathedral belongs to the Church of Sweden and serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Uppsala, the primate of that church. Destination Uppsala notes that it remains the church where all bishops of the Church of Sweden are ordained. According to Sacred Destinations, the medieval cathedral was dedicated to three saints: Saint Lawrence (Laurentius), the 3rd-century Roman deacon and martyr, Saint Erik, and Saint Olav of Norway.
Before the Protestant Reformation, it served as the Roman Catholic cathedral, replacing the earlier cathedral at Gamla Uppsala (Old Uppsala) a few kilometers to the north. According to Signum, the bones of Saint Erik were enshrined at the church in Gamla Uppsala in 1257 and carried in procession in 1273 to the building site of the new cathedral at Östra Aros, the medieval name of present-day Uppsala.
For medieval Catholics, the relics of a saint were a focus for pilgrimage, prayer, and church building. The Lutheran Reformation in Sweden ended the invocation of saints and the liturgical veneration of relics, yet did not erase their historical memory. The reliquary of Saint Erik therefore remains inside this Lutheran cathedral as a historical witness to Christian faith in Sweden rather than an object of intercessory prayer.
The cathedral's website recounts the tradition that King Erik Jedvardsson died in 1160 on the very spot where the cathedral now stands, and that devotion to him grew out of accounts of miracles at the site, including a spring that gushed forth and a blind woman who regained her sight. Kept in the Finsta Chapel (Finstakoret), the reliquary contains around twenty bone fragments and a funerary crown. Signum notes that the medieval silver reliquary made around 1415 no longer survives, while the present gilded silver chest dates from 1574 and weighs 36.5 kilograms. In 2014, the chest was opened for scientific examination led by Uppsala University.
Many people assume Lutheran churches never house relics. Uppsala shows the opposite: the reliquary of Saint Erik stands inside the cathedral, and the cathedral's website also notes a relic of Saint Birgitta (Bridget of Sweden) presented in the 1980s by the Bridgettine sisters of the Order of the Most Holy Savior in Rome. Keeping relics here preserves historical memory, distinct from the liturgical veneration of relics in Catholicism.
IIOne Hundred and Sixty-Five Years of Building and Later Restorations
Uppsala Cathedral rose slowly. Construction began around 1270 with a French master builder, then suffered delays caused by lack of funds, harsh winters, and plague, reaching consecration only in 1435, with the western towers completed several decades later. The great city fire of 1702 and two major restorations in the 19th and 20th centuries gave the cathedral its present appearance.
- 1257Saint Erik enshrined at Gamla UppsalaAccording to Signum, the remains of Saint Erik were placed in a reliquary at the old cathedral in Gamla Uppsala.
- Around 1270Construction of the new cathedral beginsThe Church of Sweden dates the start of the new cathedral at Östra Aros beside the Fyrisån River to around 1270. The French master builder Estienne de Bonneuil was engaged early on. Sacred Destinations gives 1287 as the starting year.
- 1273Translation of the relicsThe relics of Saint Erik were carried in procession from the old cathedral to the new cathedral under construction, according to the cathedral website and Signum.
- 1435ConsecrationThe cathedral was consecrated by Archbishop Olaus Laurentii after long interruptions caused by funding shortages, cold climate, and plague, with master builder Nikolaus från Västerås contributing to the nave. The western towers were built a few decades later.
- 16th centuryLutheran ReformationThe cathedral passed to the Lutheran Church of Sweden while retaining its role as the archiepiscopal see. Archbishop Laurentius Petri, a central figure of the early Swedish Reformation, is buried here.
- 1702Great fire of UppsalaA major fire that destroyed much of the city caused the worst damage in the cathedral's history. Restoration lasted until the mid-18th century and significantly altered the building's profile.
- 1885 to 1893Gothic Revival restorationArchitect Helgo Zettervall restored the cathedral in the Gothic Revival style, adding wall paintings, stained glass, and the tall twin spires seen today.
- 1971 to 1976Structural restorationStructural reinforcement and wall cleaning were carried out, and five chapels were hung with modern tapestries, according to the Church of Sweden.
Sources differ on two numbers. First is the starting year: the Church of Sweden and Destination Uppsala state around 1270, whereas Sacred Destinations gives 1287 (the year a contract in Paris recorded the travel expenses of master builder Estienne de Bonneuil to Sweden). Because the relics were translated to the building site in 1273, work had clearly begun earlier, giving the date around 1270 stronger grounding, though the library records both.
Second is the height. The cathedral's official website states that both height and length measure 118.7 meters, while several other sources round the figure to 120 meters. This discrepancy reflects rounding rather than a difference in structure.
IIIFrench Gothic Built in Swedish Brick
Uppsala represents a notable meeting of traditions in Gothic architecture: the ground plan follows French High Gothic models brought by Estienne de Bonneuil and his workshop, who worked on the eastern chapels, chancel, and portals, yet the primary building material is locally fired brick in keeping with Baltic construction practice. The cathedral measures 118.7 meters in both height and length, with a width of 45 meters and an interior vault height of 27 meters. According to the cathedral's website, the chancel piers and portal carvings make use of limestone brought from the island of Gotland.
Destination Uppsala calls it the largest cathedral in the Nordic region and notes that it holds the largest stained-glass window in Sweden. Most of the present wall murals and stained-glass windows date from Helgo Zettervall's late-19th-century restoration. For an earlier Brick Gothic cathedral in Denmark, readers can consult Roskilde Cathedral.
The two western towers carry tall pointed spires added by Helgo Zettervall between 1885 and 1893, bringing the cathedral's height to match its 118.7-meter length, while the body of the church spans 45 meters in width with 27-meter-high vaults.
Houses the reliquary of Saint Erik. The parents of Saint Birgitta were buried here in the early 14th century, according to the cathedral website.
A gilded silver chest made in 1574 weighing 36.5 kilograms according to Signum, replacing an earlier medieval silver reliquary from around 1415 that no longer survives.
In the cathedral treasury museum stands an altar cross preserving a fragment traditionally held to come from the True Cross, according to the cathedral website.
Botanist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné), scientist Olof Rudbeck, and scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg are buried inside the cathedral, alongside Archbishop Nathan Söderblom, buried in 1931.
Looking at the tall pointed spires, many visitors assume they are original medieval structures. They are not. The present spires were added during the Gothic Revival restoration of 1885 to 1893. Prior to that, after the fire of 1702, the towers had a very different profile. Saying that the cathedral is as tall as it is long describes its post-restoration silhouette rather than its 15th-century appearance at consecration.
IVLandform and Orientation
The library distinguishes two separate things here. First is religious teaching: Lutheranism does not teach feng shui, and Uppsala Cathedral was laid out according to the Western Christian rule of liturgical orientation, with the chancel at the east end facing the rising sun and the main portal and twin towers at the west end. Its site was chosen near the spot where tradition held that Saint Erik died, not by mountain and water geomancy. Second is what follows below: a comparative reading by the library through traditional Vietnamese geomancy, which does not appear in any document of the cathedral.
First is the river. The Fyrisån River flows through the center of Uppsala, and the cathedral stands on a gravel ridge along its western bank. The chancel at the east end faces toward the river valley, while the main entrance at the west end faces the higher ground behind. Read in Vietnamese geomantic terms, this is a site backed by higher terrain and looking down toward water, though because the building is a Christian church, the side facing the river is the altar end rather than the front entrance.
Second is the elevated ridge. The cathedral sits on a moderately raised slope overlooking the river and lower town. In traditional Vietnamese site selection, placing a major building on well-drained middle ground, neither on an exposed wind-swept peak nor in a damp hollow, allows vital energy to gather while remaining open. At Uppsala, that ridge also catches the low winter sunlight of the northern latitudes.
Third is the building mass. A long brick structure whose height equals its length rises like an artificial mountain across the flat Uppland plain. A viewer versed in Vietnamese geomancy might liken the twin spires to a double-peak formation (song phong), yet as noted above, those tall spires date only from the late 19th century. The library notes such visual parallels for comparison, without attributing geomantic intent to the medieval builders.
VSaint Erik's Day and the Liturgical Year
The cathedral follows the Lutheran liturgical calendar of the Church of Sweden, with fixed feasts on the Gregorian calendar and moveable feasts calculated from Easter. The observance uniquely tied to this site is Saint Erik's Day on May 18 (Eriksmässa), according to Signum, together with the commemoration of the translation of his relics on January 24. Signum notes that every year on May 18, the Catholic Parish of Saint Lars in Uppsala holds a pilgrimage procession between Gamla Uppsala and Uppsala Cathedral, retracing the route the relics traveled in 1273. Destination Uppsala records that around 100,000 people attend worship services and concerts at the cathedral each year. The table lists dates only, without hours.
| Date | Calendar | Observance | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 18 | Gregorian calendar, Catholic calendar and Swedish traditional calendar | Saint Erik's Day (Eriksmässa) | Feast of the patron saint of Sweden. The Catholic Parish of Saint Lars holds a procession between Gamla Uppsala and Uppsala, according to Signum. |
| January 24 | Gregorian calendar, Catholic calendar | Commemoration of the translation of Saint Erik's relics | Secondary memorial associated with the transfer of the relics, according to Signum. |
| December 25 | Gregorian calendar, Lutheran liturgical calendar | Christmas | Celebrates the Nativity of Christ, preceded by the four weeks of Advent. |
| Moveable each year | Lutheran liturgical calendar, calculated from Easter | Holy Week and Easter | The principal feast of the Christian year, presided over at the cathedral by the Archbishop. |
| Fiftieth day after Easter | Lutheran liturgical calendar, calculated from Easter | Pentecost | Celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit, concluding the Easter season. |
Some assume that the feast of Saint Erik belongs solely to Catholics. In fact, his memory belongs to all of Sweden: Signum notes that the Catholic cathedral in Stockholm is dedicated to Saint Erik, while his reliquary rests inside the Lutheran cathedral in Uppsala. Within the same tradition of Nordic patron saints, readers may consult Nidaros Cathedral, which houses the tomb of Saint Olav of Norway, and Turku Cathedral, which has an altar dedicated to Saint Henrik and Saint Erik.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Domkyrkoplan, Uppsala
- Getting there
- The cathedral stands at Domkyrkoplan in central Uppsala on the elevated western bank of the Fyrisån River, about a fifteen-minute walk from Uppsala Central Station.
- Coordinates
- 59.8581, 17.6333
The cathedral is an active house of worship with daily services, ordinations, and sacred music concerts. Local custom asks visitors to walk quietly and speak softly in the nave, refrain from entering the chancel or the Finsta Chapel during services, and remain at the back if arriving during prayer. The reliquary of Saint Erik is a place of remembrance, where visitors maintain the respectful demeanor appropriate before a tomb.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
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?Quick Questions
What denomination does Uppsala Cathedral belong to?
The cathedral belongs to the Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan), an Evangelical Lutheran church, and serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Uppsala, the primate of that church. Before the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, it was a Roman Catholic cathedral.
How tall is Uppsala Cathedral?
The Church of Sweden states that both the height and length of the cathedral measure 118.7 meters, which some sources round to 120 meters. Its current height dates from the Gothic Revival restoration of 1885 to 1893, when the tall pointed spires were added. Destination Uppsala calls it the largest church in the Nordic region.
Who was Saint Erik?
Erik Jedvardsson was a Swedish king who, according to tradition, died in 1160 on the site where Uppsala Cathedral now stands and came to be revered as the patron saint of Sweden. His remains were translated to the new cathedral in 1273 and now rest in a gilded silver reliquary made in 1574. His feast day is May 18.
When was Uppsala Cathedral built?
The Church of Sweden dates the start of construction to around 1270, while Sacred Destinations gives 1287. The cathedral was consecrated in 1435, and the western towers were built a few decades later. After the city fire of 1702, the cathedral was restored several times, most extensively in 1885 to 1893 and 1971 to 1976.
Who is buried in Uppsala Cathedral?
Alongside the reliquary of Saint Erik, the cathedral contains the tombs of botanist Carl Linnaeus, scientist Olof Rudbeck, scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, and Archbishops Laurentius Petri and Nathan Söderblom. King Gustav Vasa, who reigned during the Swedish Reformation, is also buried here.