Rating
4/5 (based on Google user reviews)
User Reviews
Wolbert Erich (7 years ago)
Jistrum church was built in the 13th century, the tower is a little older and dates from c. 1230. The church was once a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Peter but was stripped of the Saints statues and painted/decorated walls in one week in 1581 during the Protestant Reformation and became a Protestant church. It is a well preserved and complete 13th century Romanesque church built of red brick.
The church has a gabled roof. On the corners of the nave is a buttress in brickwork, the outer walls are on the upper side decorated with so called keper friezen. The north wall has two Romanesque windows located in the higher zone of the wall, and the lower zone has two closed entrances with brick. The southern wall shows a similar layout but has two large lancet windows build in it, with one small Romanesque window at the tower side. The choir has five regular placed Romanesque windows and the nave is covered with a Romanesque-Gothic domevault. In each bay eight ribs come together in a ring. In the west bay the ribs are squire shaped. During a renovation two hagioscopes were discovered and restored. These windows are also known as leprozenruitjes (windows for people with leprosy).
The wooden pulpit from the third quarter of the 17th century is located against the north wall where the choir and bay meet.
Most of the Frisian churches have a golden rooster as weather vane, but on the 20.5 meters high tower of the church a horse is seen. The golden rooster is a symbol of Jesus Christ who breaks the power of the darkness, forgives sins and calls for a new day. The tower had also a rooster in the past, but it was blown of by the wind and could not be repaired. It was then replaced by a horse because it was cheaper. Apparently the price was more important than the symbolic value.
The original bell in the tower from 1759 was stolen by the Germans during World War II, the current bell dateing from 1949. In 2007, the renovation of the church started and the monumental Pipe organ from the other church in town was installed.
References:The church of the former Franciscan monastery was built probably between 1515 and 1520. It is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Rauma. The church stands by the small stream of Raumanjoki (Rauma river).
The exact age of the Church of the Holy Cross is unknown, but it was built to serve as the monastery church of the Rauma Franciscan Friary. The monastery had been established in the early 15th century and a wooden church was built on this location around the year 1420.
The Church of the Holy Cross served the monastery until 1538, when it was abandoned for a hundred years as the Franciscan friary was disbanded in the Swedish Reformation. The church was re-established as a Lutheran church in 1640, when the nearby Church of the Holy Trinity was destroyed by fire.
The choir of the two-aisle grey granite church features medieval murals and frescoes. The white steeple of the church was built in 1816 and has served as a landmark for seafarers.