St. Mary's Church, Sønderborg, Denmark

The St. Mary's Church in Sønderborg is located on a hill and is a very iconic for the city. In the Middle Ages there was a leper colony on a hill just outside the city. It was named after Saint George and around 1300 the chapel of this leper colony stood in the place of the present St. Mary's Church. After the old parish church of the city, the St. Nicholas Church, was demolished around 1530, the Saint-George chapel became the new main church. Towards the end of the 16th century, John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg commissioned the enlargement of the building in order to make it suitable for the function of the parish church of his city.

In 1595 a start was made on the partial demolition of the old church and the construction of the new church. Only parts of the old medieval church remained. From the medieval church, a medieval wooden wall cupboard dating from about 1400 remained. The solemn inauguration of the new parish church took place just before Christmas in 1600. In 1649 the George Church was renamed as the Mary Church.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Inge Glud (10 months ago)
Beautiful church

Ulla Henriksen (13 months ago)
Nice church, nice with parking

Søren Christensen (2 years ago)
One of the most beautiful churches on Als. Especially the east windows made by Per kirkeby are worth a visit.

Eugen Safin (3 years ago)
Quite a beautiful church with picturesque views onto the bay from the church square.

Jesper Nielsen (3 years ago)
Beautiful church from the outside, however, was locked when we visited the place, but went for a walk in the cemetery instead and it is a "must see". With the many wars tombs and monuments

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Geraldine Curtis

Historic Site of the week

Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls

The Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls was part of the federal sanctuary of the three Gauls dedicated to the cult of Rome and Augustus celebrated by the 60 Gallic tribes when they gathered at Lugdunum (Lyon). The amphitheatre was built at the foot of the La Croix-Rousse hill at what was then the confluence of the Rhône and Saône.

Excavations have revealed a basement of three elliptical walls linked by cross-walls and a channel surrounding the oval central arena. The arena was slightly sloped, with the building"s south part supported by a now-vanished vault. The arena"s dimensions are 67,6m by 42m. This phase of the amphitheatre housed games which accompanied the imperial cult, with its low capacity (1,800 seats) being enough for delegations from the 60 Gallic tribes.

The amphitheatre was expanded at the start of the 2nd century. Two galleries were added around the old amphitheatre, raising its width from 25 metres to 105 metres and its capacity to about 20,000 seats. In so doing it made it a building open to the whole population of Lugdunum and its environs.

Do you know an ancient castle or magnificent church near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory.com.

It's absolutely free, easy, and doesn't even need registration!

Upload data

St. Mary's Church

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Hidden Gems of Finnish Archipelago

House of the Dragon Filming Locations

Historic Landmarks of Sicily

Historic Site of the week

Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls

Looks like you are a history fan!