Bönstugeberget and Persberg Prayer House

Bönstugeberget and Persberg Prayer House

Location and Function

• Bönstugeberget is located above the Krangruvan mine. As the name suggests, a prayer house was located here, though its exact location is unknown.

• The mountain also had a bell tower, used to summon the workers for prayer.

• A wooden horse, called ”Trämärra,” served as a punishment device: workers who misbehaved had to sit on its sharp back for several hours, sometimes with weights attached to their legs to increase the pain.

• The building in the background of the photo is likely the Stallgården.

Historical Significance

• Persberg’s prayer house had a mine preacher stationed there, with services held every other Sunday.

• The prayer house existed 20 years before Karlskoga’s first mission society (1857), about 25 years before the mission house in Marieberg, Ölme, and long before what is generally considered Sweden’s oldest, Riseberga prayer house in Närke.

• It was primarily used by priests for sermons, though sometimes a layperson would read a printed sermon from a postilla.