Mariager Abbey /Mariager Klosterkirke , Mariagerfjord Kommune

Mariager klosterkirke, Mariagerfjord Kommune, Region Nordjylland

 










Mariager Abbey  (Danish: Mariager Klosterkirke) was a Bridgettine abbey founded in 1430 which became an important pilgrimage site, in the present town of Mariager in northern central Jutland. The abbey was established in the rule of king Erik of Pommern in the period 1425-1432. The real founding year is regarded as 1446, where Pope Eugenius 4. confirmed a transfer of the two earlier Bridgettine abbeys in Glenstrup and Randers to the Bridgettines in Maribo. .

In the abbeys of the Bridgettines lived both monks and nuns, but in separated buildings on each side of the church. The nunnery consisted probably of 3 wings which formed a closed yard, where the church was the south wing. The monastery were several buildings south of the church and the north wing as an addition. Preserved till present is the church and the north wing of the monastery, while the other buildings were demolished once in the 1700s and the beginning of the 1800s.


Mariager abbey, (Mariager Klosterkirke) lies in the town Mariager by the beautiful Mariager fjord
Like in Maribo at Lolland a small town grew up around the abbey, but Mariager is still one of the smallest market towns in Denmark.

The abbey in Mariager was built as a three-naved church with a characteristic stepped east gable and a later added slende tower to the west. The reformation meant the final days of the abbey, although it was first abolished as late as 1588. The large church became the parish church of Mariager town - and during the next 200 years there were financial problems about maintaining the large building. The town management gave up in 1788, and the church was rebuilt in 1788-1789. The drastic rebuild was a demolition of the four eastern sections, including the choir, while the rest was rebuilt from a three-naved church into a cross-armed church, supported by outside pillars. At the cross arm was in the 1930s rebuilt a longhouse choir

Inventory
Frescoe on the north wall of the choir is a fragment of a freso from the first building period,. a magnificent descriptions of persons, artistically some of the best frescoes from the 1400s. Upon a pillar in northern cross arm is a strange image, meant to show a coat of arms of Thor Degn from the 1200s, but it was obviously painted much later.

In the tower room are two famous procession- figures, the wooden sculopturres are realistic but also typical for the period ab 1500s. The figures are concentrated about Christ and his suffering and death.

The Renaissance pulpit is a simple work ab 1720s, the decoration is from 1724. The altarpiece is a fine Baroque woodcarving  from 1690. In the big field is the big supper which is the main motif with the crucified Christ above, surrounded by the nearest , Maria, Johannes and the apostles in woodcarved free-standing figures.

Upon the south wall of the nave hangs a large late Gothic crucifix . The baptismal font is in wood from the middle of the 1700s and given to the church by its benefactor etatsråd Matthias de Thestrup (+ 1769), whose burial chapel was abolished in 1931. From earlier burial chapels were Holger Eriksen Rosenkrantz from 1495, which was abolished in the 1560s when Jørgen Rosenkrantz of Rosenholm collected the bodies of his late forefathers in Hornslet kirke. Also the family Løvenbalk from the manors Tjele and Aunsbjerg had built and owned a burial chapel by the church.

by the kloster lake

The most famous headstone in Mariager belongs to the last Catholic Børglum bishop, the excessive Stygge Krumpen, who died in Asmild kloster in 1551,  a magnificent portrait stone celebrateds his memory,but he is not buried under the stone, his mummified body was shown to the public until 1871- 1873 in an open coffin, but common good manners demanded that the body was moved to the burial chapel of the noble family Krumpen. The bodies from this chapel were in 1931 buried in the church yard.





On the big church yard are kept pieces of pillars and some debris of graves from the abbey period. The church yard was extended in 1894 and is marked by the civil grave memorials of the market town Mariager. 

by the klosterlake.

Source: Danmarks kirker, Niels Peter Stilling, 2000; Nordens kirker ; National Museum; 

 photo: grethe bachmann

Hammer church /Hammer kirke, Hedensted Kommune.

Hammer kirke, Hedensted kommune, 20 km west of Horsens foto gb

Hammer church was mentioned in a document for the first time in 1457. The church lies in an open terrain, which slopes from north and west down to the river Gudenaa, which is a part of the border in the small parish. Hammer church is a small church without a tower, the orientation is not east-west like most other churches and it is not a village church. It lies very desolated and nothing indicates that there was ever a village here. It is most likely that it was built by a local magnate. The history of Hammer church is connected to a nearby, earlier main farm Hammergård, which lies  1/2 km east of the church. .
 
The church was probably built in the late 1100s. It was consecrated to Maria Magdalena and belonged to the Århus bishop during the Middle Ages. At the reformation it was like most other churches taken over by the Crown, which entrusted the income to the parish at the Chapter of Århus. Latest in 1553 Hammer church became annex to Linnerup church

During the Swedish wars in the 1600s there were plunders by the foeign troups (both enemies and allied)  all over Jutland. The parish of Hammer suffered much under this and many farms were destroyed. When Århus Chapter was closed in 1666 the Crown took over the church once more until 1745, where it was transferred to the nearby farm Hammergård. The owner of Hammergård announced in 1809 that the church was now taken over by the parish. In 1908 the church became formally freehold, and in 1911 it became annex to Tørring church as it is today. After this the parish belonged to Haderslev stift since 1971 (.Hedensted Kommune)

The original church is built in travertine with a cernel of field stone. Later were probably in 1400s used monk bricks for a thorough restore. Once in the 1700s was built a thatched porch, but it was replaced in 1867, and the present porch was built. There was possibly earlier a burial chapel on the northside of the choir. The roof is red tiles, earlier it was a lead roof.  The wooden ceiling in the choir was inserted in 1862 after the earlier late medieval vault was ready to be destrcuted. The triumph arch was probably extended when the vault was built.

 

 

 

Hammer kirke, foto gb.

The small church is marked by inventory from the 1800s: pews from 1827 altarpiece from 1870 and pulpit from 1892. 

 

The altarpiece is from the 1870s - in the middle field is a copy of  Thorvaldsen's Christ-figure. The two painted figures are David with the harp and Moses with the tablets of the Law, painted after two statues in Vor Frue Kirke in Copenhagen. The altarpiece was repaired in 1963.

 

Altar rails from 1899 in cast iron and polished beech wood. Pews from ab. 1857. Gallery in connection to organ. 

 

The pulpit is a gift  to the church from Mads Christensen and Peder Christian Madsen in 1892,  and it replaced an earlier pulpit from 1735. The pulpit has carved biblical reliefs made by a local carver N. Fjeldskov  The sounding board is the same work as the pulpit  The entrance to the pulpit is a bricked staircase. 

 

The Romanesque font is probably the original from the building of the church . It has a greyish basin and a reddish foot. The baptismal dish in brass is from the beginning of the 1900s. The jar in brass is from 1863.

 

Silver chalice and disc from 1758 made by J.N. Brosbøll, Vejle. Altar candelabres in brass from the beginning of the 1600s. Menorah candelabre from 1950s. Two chandeliers ab. 1925 (Renaissance-copies). Church ship "Marie" from ab. 1953, a threemaster without sails but with Dannebrog.

 

the beginning of Gudenaa, near Hammer church, foto gb

Three carved figures have been kept from the original altarpiece from the 1400s: A Throne of Grace and Maria Magdalena with the ointment jar and Barbara with the tower.   Besides these three figures is kept a wooden figure of the Virgin Mary from 1520. The child is missing.

 

The bell is from 1829 cast by Meilstrup in Randers, it was originally meant for Tørring church and came to Hammer church ab. 1910.

In a cupboard in the choir were since 1877 an Epee, spurs and a coffin plate from Ditlev Trappaud who was konferensråd and amtmand over Dronningborg, Silkeborg and Mariager Amt and the owner of Tvillum. A long inscription tells about him and the family's sorrow by his death.  Trappaud was also the owner of Hammergård. He died at Tvillum 22 August 1768.

 The church yard is surrounded by stone dikes. The bell hangs in a bell frame at the western gable. 

 Source: National Museum, København; Folkekirken, Tørring og Hammer sogne.