St. Eugenia's Church, Stockholm

The exquisite Saint Eugenia’s Church in Stockholm, Sweden is a Roman Catholic Church located in the center of the city. This modern church was designed by architect Jørgen Kjaergaard and was built in 1982. The church was sanctified to the Blessed Eugenia, who was an abbess at the monastery of Mont-Odile in Alsace. The Jesuit-run church community itself was first established in 1837 and is considered to be the oldest Roman Catholic Parish in Scandinavia. It was one of the first Roman Catholic Churches established after the Protestant Reformation. A product of the right to religious freedom, which was given to the citizens of Sweden in 1860, the church began with a small congregation of just a couple hundred people and grew to almost 10,000 congregants today. During the 1950s, the church was ordered to be knocked down when the city council decided to restore the historic area of town where it is located. The church was relocated within the walls of a historic courtyard and, other than a massive golden cross, the church cannot be seen from the street. Unique features include a red brick interior and a colossal wooded cross, which was made from the roof beams of the preceding church building. Visitors to the church can expect to hear mass in Arabian, English, Polish or Swedish.