Davinde Church
Description
Davinde Church is located in the village of Davinde, about 10 km east-southeast of Odense, in Davinde Parish, Odense Municipality.
No medieval written sources concerning the church’s history have survived, apart from the fact that it paid eight marks in land tax during 1524–26. In 1555 it became an annex church to Allerup Church. After the Reformation in 1536, the church belonged to the Crown until 1686, when patronage rights were granted to Jørgen Rantzau. In 1699 it was purchased by Frederik Gersdorff of Bramstrup and Lindved and remained attached to that estate until 1793, when it was acquired by Johan Bülow of Sanderumgård. The church remained connected to this manor until it became self-owning on 1 July 1914.
Building
Originally, the church was a Romanesque structure consisting of a nave built of rough fieldstones and a narrower chancel with an apse. Most of the nave from this early phase survives. In the 14th or early 15th century the church underwent major alterations: parts of the nave walls were rebuilt in brick, the apse was demolished, and after about 1450 the nave was extended westwards and vaulted. A brick tower was later added, constructed in several phases, followed by a porch at the end of the 15th century. Around 1510, the Romanesque chancel was replaced by a long, vaulted chancel.
Furnishings
The oldest item of church furniture is the Romanesque granite baptismal font, belonging to a small North Funen group with a cube-capital-shaped bowl. Also preserved from the Middle Ages is a bell dated 1483. From the late 16th century survives a pew commissioned in 1584 by Margrete Skovgård of Sanderumgård. The post-Reformation refurnishing began around 1600. Parts of a lectern pulpit from 1599, donated by Margrete Skovgård, are preserved; it has since been rebuilt into a traditional pulpit with five arcade panels depicting Christ and the Evangelists. The pew ends and the communion chalice also date from around 1600.
The altarpiece was donated in 1918 by Ove and Elsa Vind of Sanderumgård and contains an unsigned copy of Pierre-Paul Prud’hon’s Crucifixion (1822), the original of which is now in the Louvre, Paris.
Address
Davinde, Odense, Denmark
Established
12th century