Detail from Skånings-Åsaka Kyrka

Varnhem is a locality situated in Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 707 inhabitants in 2010. Varnhem is the location of the oldest known stone church in Sweden outside of Scania, erected in the 1040s at the latest. It is also the location of a Christian cemetery which was in use during the end of the ninth century. The Cistercian Order established Varnhem Abbey around 1150, not far from the old church. A new abbey church was erected to replace the older church; the abbey ch…