Medieval churches in Denmark
Døllefjelde Church
Døllefjelde Church was originally a tiny chapel built before 1362. The present choir served as the nave. The wodden crucifix dates from 1300 and the glass painting of the knight Henrik Plot dates from 1400.
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Sakskobing, Denmark
Veng Abbey Church
Veng Abbey was one of Denmark"s earliest Benedictine monasteries, established in the late 1060s, with connections to the royal forebears of King Valdemar I. By the 1160s the abbey had fallen into a severe decline: the original endowments failed to sustain it, and it had gained a reputation for being 'unruly'. Eventually Abbot Jens was brought before a church tribunal and forced to give up his office on the ...
Founded: 1060s |
Location:
Skanderborg, Denmark
St. Canute's Abbey
St. Canute"s Benedictine Abbey (Skt Knuds Kloster) was built to support the pilgrimage centre for the relics of the royal Danish martyr Saint Canute (died 1086), and was the successor to the priory of St. Mary and St. Alban, Denmark"s earliest monastic house. Located in Odense, it was the island of Funen"s most important medieval religious institution. St. Canute"s Abbey was founded in connection with ...
Founded: 1096 |
Location:
Odense, Denmark
St. Lawrence's Church Ruins
St. Lawrence"s Church was built around 1125 AD of travertine. During the reformation in 1536 the church was demolished. Only the tower was left, and is today the tower of the city hall. The ruins are preserved 2 metres under the square Stændertorvet. They reveal the beautiful restored red and black clay tile floor and mediaeval fixtures of the church as well as archaelogical finds from the excavations.The ruins ...
Founded: c. 1125 |
Location:
Roskilde, Denmark
St. Catherine's Priory
St. Catherine"s Priory was an important early Dominican friary. The buildings still stand, although there is no monastic community there; known as Ribe Kloster, it is Denmark"s most complete extant monastic building complex. The Dominican priory in Ribe, dedicated to Saint Catherine of Siena, was founded in 1228 by Dominican friars on property given to them by Tuve, Bishop of Ribe, only the second such foundati ...
Founded: 1228 |
Location:
Ribe, Denmark
Tvilum Abbey Church
Tvilum Priory, the latest of the Augustinian monasteries in Denmark, was founded between 1246 and 1249 by Bishop Gunner of Ribe, who had hoped to establish the Augustinians in the cathedral chapter at Ribe, but in vain. After he resigned his bishopric in 1246, he donated all his worldly goods to the monastery at Tvilum, while he himself became aFranciscan friar. The Bishop of Aarhus at about the same time gifted the incom ...
Founded: 1246-1249 |
Location:
Fårvang, Denmark
Glenstrup Abbey Church
Glenstrup Abbey, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded about 1125 as a Benedictine monastery. The nobleman Svend Bo and his wife Inger Thott gave property and several farms to support it in the mid-12th century. It was built on the site of a holy spring called Maria"s Spring in medieval times. The location was a religious one in Viking times and the abbey was most likely constructed on the site of a stave chapel ...
Founded: 1125 |
Location:
Fårup, Denmark
St. Bendt's Church
St. Bendt"s Church was originally part of a Benedictine monastery that burnt down in the 18th century. Built in the Romanesque style, it is the oldest brick church in Scandinavia, dating back to about 1170 when it replaced a travertine church from about 1080. It is considered to be one of Denmark"s architecturally finest churches. Furthermore, it is of special historical interest as it is first Royal church in D ...
Founded: 1170 |
Location:
Ringsted, Denmark
Randrup Church Ruins
Randrup Church was built probably around 1200. Very little is known of the church origins, not even when it was demolished. Today fragments of foundations remain.
Founded: 1200 |
Location:
Spentrup, Denmark
Eskilsø Abbey Ruins
The Augustinian monastery was built in the around the year 1100 and moved to Æbelholt in north Zealand around 1175. The small abbey was 28m long building with a nave, apse, chancel and porch.
Founded: c. 1100 |
Location:
Skibby, Denmark