Täby Church – where Death plays chess

Täby, Uppland · Sweden · Church

Täby Church – where Death plays chess — Täby, Uppland · Sweden · Church

At Täby Church, Death plays chess with a man. Albertus Pictor's 1480s mural is believed to have inspired Ingmar Bergman.

Inside Täby Church, north of Stockholm, a 15th-century mural shows a man sitting at a chessboard. Across from him sits Death. According to older transcriptions, a faded inscription once read "Jak spelar tik matt", meaning "I shall checkmate you." Death is speaking.

Painted in the 1480s by Albertus Pictor and his workshop, the scene is regarded as an inspiration for the famous chess match between a knight and Death in Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film The Seventh Seal.

A German painter in medieval Sweden

Täby Church was built as a parish church during the second half of the 13th century. Following a roof fire in the mid-1400s, brick vaults were constructed. In the 1480s, Albertus Pictor and his workshop painted the walls and vaults.

Pictor's original name was Albrecht Ymmenhusen. He probably came from Immenhausen, north of Kassel in present-day Germany, and worked with a team of approximately five people. Together they decorated around thirty churches, mainly in the Mälaren region.

During the 1780s, the church walls were whitewashed. The paintings on the vaults, however, were left untouched and have never been covered with whitewash. Some are considered among Pictor's finest works.

A game nobody wins

The man facing Death in Täby is not a knight. That detail belongs to Bergman's film, although the two scenes have become closely associated.

The old inscription gives Death a line of dialogue: "Jak spelar tik matt." The informal address matters. Death speaks directly to his opponent, without regard for rank or position, underlining that everyone is equal before death. According to Täby Parish, this is the only occasion on which Pictor used the chess motif.

The century after the Black Death

When Pictor painted the chess game, just over a century had passed since the Black Death reached Scandinavia. Contemporary accounts describe a ship arriving in Bergen from England in 1349, bringing the plague to Norway. The disease spread through the country during 1349 and 1350.

In autumn 1349, King Magnus Eriksson issued a letter from Lödöse. He reported that plague had broken out across Norway and in Halland and was expected to reach Sweden. His instructions called for religious processions, masses and fasting.

In Norwegian folklore, the plague took the form of Pesta, an elderly, pale woman carrying a rake and a broom. Where she used the rake, some survived. Where she swept, everyone died.

From church painting to cinema

In The Seventh Seal, released in 1957, a knight plays chess with Death. Both Täby Parish and the Ingmar Bergman Foundation identify the Täby painting as an inspiration for the scene.

In his 1990 book Images, Bergman described how, as a churchgoer, he became absorbed in altarpieces and wall paintings. He also said on several occasions that as a boy he looked at the church pictures more than he listened to his father's sermons. He recalled images including a knight playing chess with Death, but did not identify Täby Church specifically.

The film developed from a short stage play, Wood Painting, written in 1953–54 for students at Malmö City Theatre.

Täby Church remains an active parish church in Täby kyrkby, north of Stockholm. Visitors looking for the chess painting should head towards the staircase leading to the organ gallery. The 18th-century gallery obscures parts of the vaulted ceiling, but the famous game is still visible from the stairs.

The man and Death have been sitting across that chessboard since the 1480s, centuries before Bergman brought their encounter to the cinema.

Other sources about this place

FAQ

Where is Täby Church – where Death plays chess located?

Täby Church – where Death plays chess is in Täby, Uppland, Sweden.

More haunted places in Uppland

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Albertus Pictor, 1480-talet · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons