Dopaltaret

Abstract

The Baptismal Altar 

The baptismal altar was introduced in the Church of Sweden in the 1930s. In its simplest form, it consisted of a small shelf with two candles and a frontal, its centre adorned with a crucifix, a reredos, or simply a Bible or a flower pot. It was placed against a wall, behind the baptismal font. An existing minor altar could also be decorated in this way and used as the background of the baptismal font.

A few altars of this type were erected in the following decades. There were never many of them. The liturgical revival, in the latter part of the twentieth century, criticized baptismal altars, considering them a mixed symbol of the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion. Some baptismal altars have subsequently been removed.