New Church of Lundby was an 1886 stone church in Gothenburg, notable for its acoustics. Burned down on February 7, 1993, it became a significant landmark in the book’s account of Black Metal-related attacks spreading beyond Norway: the same night, another Christian building nearby was desecrated.## Setting and architectural significance Built of stone in 1886, New Church of Lundby was known for its good acoustics. These details distinguish it from the churches described chiefly as targets in a widening series of attacks: it was an identifiable local building with a recognized architectural and musical quality, not simply an interchangeable religious site. Its location in Gothenburg places it within the Swedish developments that the book sets alongside the earlier Norwegian wave.

The February 1993 fire

On February 7, 1993, New Church of Lundby was burned down. Another Christian building nearby was desecrated that same night, making the episode more than an isolated attack on a single structure. The account does not identify the perpetrators of the Lundby fire or establish a specific motive for it; it presents the events as part of a broader pattern of criminal transgression.

Sweden within a widening pattern

The fire came after an earlier documented Black Metal-related transgression in Sverige: on July 26, 1992, Varg Vikernes directed an 18-year-old, Suuvi Mariotta Puurunen, in an attempted arson at the home of Christopher Jonsson. That attack was not at New Church of Lundby, but its earlier date helps situate the church’s destruction within the book’s chronology of incidents in Sverige. The account then places the February 1993 fire among similar events that had begun to occur there as crimes associated with the Norwegian Black Metal milieu escalated.

The book frames the Norwegian events as part of an international phenomenon rather than a uniquely Norwegian one. It describes the loosely connected Norwegian scene as a source of an example that surfaced in distant places, while also noting that Black Metal’s reach grew internationally. Its later comparisons include church attacks in England by underground fans emulating Varg Vikernes, and the development of scenes in Eastern Europe and Finland. These comparisons establish the wider context for New Church of Lundby without proving that any particular foreign incident directly caused its destruction.

Place in the narrative

New Church of Lundby brings the narrative’s focus from Norway to a specific Swedish site where an attack on a church coincided with the desecration of another Christian building. The contrast between the church’s long-standing reputation for acoustics and its destruction gives the episode a concrete local dimension, while its position in the chronology makes it part of a broader account of attacks crossing national boundaries. The book’s framing emphasizes that the incidents were dispersed across places and contexts, rather than evidence of a single, fully organized international campaign.