About fifteen kilometres east of Skara, Varnhem Abbey is one of the most important medieval church sites in Sweden. The Cistercian monastery was founded around 1150 and became a burial place for several medieval kings and for Birger Jarl. The abbey itself is largely ruined, but the church survives, its long Romanesque nave and choir still intact.
A small museum next to the church covers the dramatic recent excavations, which uncovered an older wooden church and Christian burials from the Viking Age. Varnhem is easy by car from Skara; less so by public transport.