The church at Mollösund was dedicated on 26 June 1866. It replaced the older wooden church, which was situated inside the old churchyard, down by the harbour. The old church was probably erected during the great herring catch period of 1556-1588. During the first half of the 19th century it was found to be too small for the growing congregation. The church was also in dire need of repair. It was finally decided at a parish meeting that it should be replaced by a completely new one.

The interior of the old church is shown on a painting, that is now hanging on the north wall of the new church, to the right of the exit door. This oil painting was painted by the Danish-Swedish artist Geskel Saloman in 1856, just a few years before the old church was demolished.

Drawings for the new church were made by the city architect H. J. Strömberg, of Gothenburg. The directive for the drawings of the new church was that it should be “suitable for the size of the congregation and a completely suitable and honourable temple meeting the needs of the time”. In accordance with the customs and traditions of other churches in Sweden, the right side of the church was for men, and the left side for women, “as required by the needs of propriety and decorum...”

In connection with the decision to build anew, the wish was expressed that the new church should be built in a different place from the site of the old one. That location was dark and out of the way. The new church should instead be in a more open and raised location, where it could be seen better by the community. Olsson of Konungsholmen provided land without charge, where the church is now situated. As a token of gratitude, Olsson was given a free bench in the church in perpetuity – half each of the front men’s and women’s rows!

The interior of the church was completely renovated and repainted in 1998. The internal restoration work was led by architect Kjell Malmqvist, of Mölndal, south of Gothenburg. In connection with the restoration a parish assembly hall and pantry were installed. Conservation expert Anders Darwall of Hunnebostrand carried out conservation work on the older church contents, while the other restoration was taking place.


The church contents

The altarpiece, from the previous church, includes two paintings, at the left the birth of Christ in Bethlehem and the three wise men, and to the right Christ's crucifixion on Golgotha.

On the walls to the left and right of the altar hang two paintings, also taken from the previous church. The one on the left shows the Golgotha scene and the one on the right the Last Supper.

The pulpit dates from when the church was built, while the pulpit rails are from the old church.

The font is from the old church. During the recent renovation the paintings adorning the four sides of the font were added.

The grandfather clock at the left of the choir dates from 1829, and is by an unknown master.

The altar rail is decorated with paintings from 1781, depicting Bible scenes from both the Old and New Testament. When the old church was pulled down some of the church’s old valuable pieces were sold, among them these paintings. This helped the congregation to finance the building of the new church. In 1935 the paintings were re-donated to the church, and after conservation work on them was completed they were put on to the altar rails.

The organ was built by Hammarberg’s organ works in Gothenburg in 1955. It has a pneumatic system and has 14 stops.

The bell in the porch is an old ship’s bell. Age unknown. The inscription reads:
“Made by Anders Rise of Tönsberg”. The porch also contains the church’s old stocks, age unknown.

The cross in the old Mollösund churchyard, shown in the picture below, was put up in 2004, and is a memorial to the old church which was located where the cross now stands.

The church bell in the tower, donated by church warden Amandus Mattsson in 1926, bears an inscription from Swedish Psalms 401 verse 2:

“ A grace it is that in our country
church bells still ring.
Like an oasis at the edge of the desert
the Lord's estate offers refreshment.
Where sainthood stays revealed,
there people go on high days,
where we all, old and young
praise our God and Father.”