The Skanderborg chapel is the only remaining part of the former Skanderborg castle which was definitively demolished in 1770. In 1562-63 King Frederick II rebuilt the medieval castle on Slotsholmen (an elevation in the ground that used to be a small island) to a modern fortress. Because of the financial difficulties of the Kingdom of Denmark the king chose to take up residence in Skanderborg.
Hence in 1572 a chapel was constructed in the newly established royal wing which at the same time was increased with two storeys. The castle functioned as a residence for the royal family for several years and among other things it could be mentioned that Christian IV learned seamanship as well as horsemanship in Skanderborg.
The present church consists of a long nave with a round tower with a conical, copper spire. The tower was originally one of the castle’s corner towers.Below the church in the castle’s old wine cellar a crypt has been established with four glass mosaics by the sculptor V. Foersom Hegndal. A variety of the original furniture in noble renaissance can still be seen in the church. The baptismal font from 1850 has been made after a drawing by Bindesbøll.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.