| The Church
| | Between 1100 and 1250 around 2500 churches were built in Denmark. It was an enormous investment and testifies to the impact of the church and the dynamic, which was prevalent at the time. |
Building the Churches We may have difficulties imagining the vast investment, which was needed to build the churches. In the early Middle Ages more than 2500 churches were built in the Danish area. This testifies to the strong grip the Christian church had on the population.
Churches among the People The locations of the medieval churches can supply us with a picture of where people lived. Every area had a church, but there were some exceptions. Those were Roskilde, Lund and Helsingborg, which were archbishoprics. They had a special significance so they had 23 churches. Helsingborg had 6 churches.
Church Building |
Building Material In the beginning the churches were built of wood, the so-called stave churches, but from the middle of the 11th century they began to build stone churches. The building material in the Sound region was usually limestone, which was cut to a cube form. This almost square stone was called ashlar. (The oldest preserved stone church in the North is Dalby Church outside Lund). Sometimes the ashlar was supplemented with other stones from fields. (Example of such a mixture of building materials can be seen in the southern wall of Tveje Merløse Church). In the 12th century it became more common with tile and early examples of the the use of tile are Gumlösa Church in Scania and Tikøb Church in Zealand.
Vä Church | Tveje Merløse Church | Bjernede Church | Bjernede Kirke |
Round Churches There are examples of special kinds of ground solutions for the medieval churches. The round churches, which are typical of Bornholm, are special. In Helsingborg the Michael Chapel at the castle a round church and in Zealand Bjernede Church is the only example.
Østerlars Church | Portal | Nylars-Cross | Nylars Church | Portal Nylars Church |
Ground Plan Most churches had a simple ground plan. One big room was for the parishioners. This room was called the aisle or the nave. This room was extended with the choir, which ended in an apse, where the altar was placed. The aisle and the choir was often bounded with a vault, the so-called triumphal arch. The big churches in Dalby and Lund had a much more sophisticated ground plan. The nave or the aisle in these churches looked like the Roman basilica, which meant that the aisle had three naves, of which the one in the middle was elevated and let the light in. In these churches there were also crypts and Lund´s Cathedral was given the form of a Latin cross.
Roman Ground Plan | Lund´s Cathedral |
Magnate Churches The magnate churches differed from the ordinary churches. The often had twin towers and a gallery for the prominent.
Tveje Merløse Church | Fjenneslev´s church | Aakirkeby Church |
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