Gørding church, Southwest Jutland (Region Syddanmark)

Gørding kirke/ Gørding church is a Lutheran church norh of Gørding station-town ab. 21 kilometer east of Esbjerg . 

The church (from 1100-1200s) and the church yard are situated north of  Holsted river. South of the church yard lies the school, northeast the inn and to the east the vicarage with a garden down to the river.

The church has a Romanesque choir and nave  - extended to the west probably already in the Roman period. In the late Middle Ages was added a porch in front of the south door of the nave. The porch seems to have been an entrance hall and a windbreak only. In the gable of the porch is a Romanesque gravestone and a cover stone above the door. 

The west tower is built in monk stone, but at the bottom to the south and west are used granite ashlars from the west gable of the nave. A reparation is marked by iron numbers: 1759 and the initials of the church owner and his wife HCW, Henrik Christian Worm and IT, Ingeborg Teilmann . The tower room opens to the nave with a round arched arcade, decorated by small tiled crow bands. The room is covered by a crossvault . The entrance to the tower is from outside by a spiral staircase.

A palmette decorated window lintel in the choir and a cover stone from the southdoor of the nave - now in the porch - connect the building to a group of southwest Jutland ashlar churches from the time of king Valdemar Sejr. The church might have been built by stone masons who earlier worked in Grimstrup, Brøndum and Brørup

The church walls rest upon a beautifully carved profiled double granite plinth.  

The choir might have had 5 windows. The window in the eastern gable has a decoration of round sticks and palmette which is characteristic of about ten west Jutland churches like Grimstrup, Vester Nykirke and Brøndum.

The walled north door is seen inside as a broad flatbowed glare. Outside is only a trace of the bottom. 

The roofworks above choir and nave are probably medieval. They are in heavy oak timber, braced by earlier dated storm battens. The roofwork of the church is lead. The porch is an alike construction but since 1928 with a tiled roof.

By a reparation in 1916 came up frescoes in the northside of the nave - a painter later decorated a loft decoration and frescoes in a rather bastant way - but they were removed by a restoration in 1950. Some frescoes in the northwall of the nave were probably late medieval, they were sketch like scenes but they were washed over and are known from photos,  showing animals looking like fable horses/ Unicorns.

Before 1528 the church had two bells, one from ab. 1350 -  the other is not known since king Frederik I was allowed by the Danish Rigsråd to collect the bell in order to build canons. In 1970 the church was given bell nr 2 with inscription: given by Aksel Emil Petersen, parish priest in Gørding 1947-63 , bell carved 1969 .

 In the eastern part of the church yard is a mortuary from ab 1927,  whitewashed and with crennelated gables.

 

Inventory

The main decor is from the period of king Christian IV. A manor chair from 1597 has the coat of arms of Frands Pol of the later abandoned Stårupgård, the west pulpiture is dated 1620,  and the pulpit from 1622 has coat of arms for Margrethe Krag of Varho and the initials of the church guardians and the priest Niels Pedersen Præstkjær.

The late Middle Age is represented by the bell  from 1350-1400, by the kernel of the Gothic altar board from ab 1500 and from a clerk chair from ab. 1525 with the coat of arms of bishop Ivar Munk and probably the parish priest or the church guardian. The Gothic altar piece - which might have had a modernization in king Christian IV's period - had its present look by a repair in 1732, made by the church owner Christian Carl v. Gabel of Bramminge.

The Romanesque font in reddish granite is from the same time as the church building. It is of the west Jutland type like other fonts in the region. The tall foot has some big strangely loopy corner knots which are seen in Horne, Vester Starup and Hunderup church. The font has its present place in the middle in front of the choir entrance. 

 A pulpit from 1622 given by "Fruen på Varbogård" Margrete of Jylland .Upon the sounding board is seen her coat of arms with the crow as a symbol and the year 1622. The pulpit is decorated with 5 reliefs with scenes from the childhood and youth of Christ. 

About 1250 the church got a crucifix which is a very rare piece of church art. Today it is placed upon the wall on the northside of the church. There are only two of this kind in the Christian world (info from the National Museum). The crucifix is a mix of Gothic and Romanesque church art. In the Roman period ab. year 1200 the victorious Christ is seen with a golden crown and an upright symmetric attitude -   in the Gothic period the suffering Christ is seen with the thorn crown and an assymmetric suffering attitude. By the crucifix are figures of the mother of Christ and of the disciple Johannes.  

The crucifix group must be a local work, made from west European role models in the breaking time between Roman and Gothic style. Characteristic is the attitude of Christ, probably known from a French Christ figure in Le Mans, dated 1210-30. A Nordic feature is that Maria wears a crown like Christ.

The altar chalice is Gothic from ab 1600, the Netherland baptismal dishes from 1648 have the coat of arms of Erik Bilde and Margrethe Krag of Varho. 

Altar candlesticks , 1648, with coat of arms and initials of the givers Erik Bilde and Margrethe Krag of Varho. 

A copy of Frederik I's bible belonged to a family in Ilsted and was according to inscription given to Gørding church in 1974. It has a pretty leather binding from 1787 and ornamentik and brass fittings and  the year and the former owners initials. 

 

Sæby church , Vendsyssel, Northeast Jutland

Sæby old watermill

The small  town Sæby lies in an idyllic landscape by the mouth of Sæby river  at Kattegat Maybe the Vikings were the first who lived here in a small village. In 1450 was  a small church was built near the sea. Both the town and the nearby manor Sæbygård belonged to the rich Børglum bishopric -  and in the 1460s the bishop Jep Friis established a Carmelite kloster by the church. The kloster was inagurated to Sct. Maria and the town was called Mariested, a name which was changed into Sæby after the reformation. The bishop Stygge Krumpen provided the municipal rights for the town in 1524.

Sæby church is the prettiest small town church in North Jutland. The church was built in ab. 1400. The Gothic church was originally a parish church, but in 1460 a Carmelite-kloster was established in Sæby on the initiative of the Børglum bishop Jep Friis. The kloster buildings were built on the northside of the paris church, and the church was at the same time in the years after 1460 extended to the east with an access to the kloster. To the westwas built a tower. The long church (54 m) but narrow church was extended with a stately south chapel which opens towards the nave with arcades and with a great light from the windows. The main entrance is to the west in the tower which vaulted underroom is a front hall.



The frescoes are among the most important in the district. The earliest at the north wall  are from the first part of the 1400s. The eastern vault of the nave and the choir vault are completely covered by frescoes from ab. 1500. They are attributed to the socalled Sæby workshop which artworks also  are found in Vrå church and in Budolfi church in Aalborg. The southern chapel is completely covered by winding ornaments, only the south west vault has original paintings  from ab. 1525, while the other vaults are repainted in 1888. Two coat of arms are also seen for the last bishops of Vendsyssel, Niels Stygge Rosenkrantz and his follower Stygge Krumpen who lost his office in the reformation in 1536.

The church has a rich inventory. The late Gothic altarpiece is magnificent - a Netherland work from the beginning of the 1500s. In the southern chapel hangs a contemporary Maria figure, a late Gothic carving with a fine decoration. The figure is attributed to the Odense-carver Claus Bergs workshop ca. 1520. The communion table has a painted antepedium with a tablet from 1697 and the coat of arms of Holger Pachs and Lisbeth Bille of Sæbygård.

The pupils from Latin school made sketches of ships.

In the choir are kept 20 original late medieval monk-chairs in oak with pretty late Gothic carvings. A special detail are the sketches of ships which the pupils from the Latin school  have made while they had to listen to the hour-long sermon of the parson.. ( 52 sketches of ships from the period 1550-1739)

The granite font is from 1906. An older baptismal font,a  wooden carving from 1645 is now in the chapel. The pulpit is a Renaissance work  from 1577 with a Baroque decoration from 1695. The ore candelabres were given by Niels Iwersen and Ingeborg Banner in 1586.  In the front hall is a late Gothic crucifix from ab 1500, in the church are two other crucifix

There are several grave memorials in the church ( like epitaphs from the 1700s).


The present church yard replaced the old one in 1872. In an excavation in 1977 were found rests of  the kloster buildings. The rests of the kloster were broken down in 1536 and the monk stones were used to secure the harbour. On the other side of the square lies Sæby hospital established in 1565 by the nobleman Mogens Juel of Knivholt. 

Odden Manor and Mygdal church, Region Nordjylland

Odden, wikipedia

Odden, Region Nordjylland, Mygdal sogn Vennebjerg herred, Hjørring Kommune. 



before 1970: Mygdal sogn, Vennebjerg herred, Hjørring amt.





The family Lunge were the owners of Odden for about 300 years.

No owner of Odden is with certainty known until into the 15th century, where it belonged to the ancient family Lunge. Through marriage and inheritance this sjællandske ( zealand) family had resided in the northernest regions of Jutland. Hr. Anders Jacobsen Lunge, one of the richest and most respected noblemen in Denmark,  a rigshofmester and a member of the rigsråd, married in his youth hr. Peder Offesen Neb's widow fru Ingeborg Nielsdatter Panter, and with her he got considerable estate. A few years after her death was in 1419 legal change after his parents-in-law, hr. Niels Ovesen Panter and fru Johanne -   and much estate came to Anders from the region around Hjørring, like Knivholt and Bøgsted, the manor Odden was probably mentioned too.

landscape by Odden, foto gb

Hr. Anders Jacobsen Lunge had no heirs, a son of his cousin hr Oluf Andersen Lunge wrote himself of Odden in 1454. Hr. Oluf was one of his time's most excellent noblemen. He was the first known owner of Odden. He still lived in 1473. Odden came after his death to his son Oluf Olufsen Lunge who died in the 1470s, he was the last male of his family. His widow Karen Nielsdatter Banner brought Odden to her second husband Vil Thomasen Galskyt, who in 1479 and later wrote himself of the manor Odden, but Oluf Lunge's son-in-law Henrik Friis of Haraldskær (+ earliest 1500) was partly owner of Odden and later without doubt sole owner. After his first wife fru Anne Olufsdatter Lunge (with whom he had several children) died, he lived in a probably childless marriage with Margrethe Mogensdatter Krabbe of Bøgsted who outlived him with many years. The death year of both is not known.

Odden, wikipedia

The next owner Ove Vincentsen Lunge, who got the manor Odden via marriage to Anne Henriksdatter Friis (his first wife was Karen Eriksdatter Rosenkrantz +) played an important role among his contemporaries. His father was of the family Dyre, his mother of the family Lunge which earlier owned Odden, and he and his siblings took names after her. After king Hans's death he was soon a warrior, soon a diplomat, he was a member of rigsrådet, he achieved the knighthood and had important vasalries. He inherited Tirsbæk after his father, he got Odden with his second wife Anne Henriksdatter Friis and he bought Kragerup at Zealand, he had success as a farmer and he was a bibliophile too. He died in 1540, his wife, Anne Henriksdatter Friis, whose first marriage was to Bjørn Andersen Bjørn of Stenalt, outlived him with a couple of years.

Odden, foto gb

After Anne's death came Odden in 1542 to the son Tyge Lunge (Dyre) (+1545)(whose widow Sophie Nielsdatter Kaas (Sparre-K.) disclaimed liabilities on succeeding to property), and to Christoffer Lunge (Dyre), (who was killed in 1565 in the battle of Svarterå). He and his wife fru Karen Jørgensdatter Juel were buried in the chapel at Mygdal kirke.  Odden went to his son Ove Christoffersen Lunge (Dyre), whose wedding to Anne Maltesdatter Sehested was held at Odden. Ove Lunge died in 1601, and after his death Odden went to the son rigsmarsk hr. Jørgen Lunge (Dyre) of Birkelse etc.; he took part in the Kalmar war, had several vasalries and was from 1616 member of rigsrådet, he was rigsmarsk and ridder, he died already in 1619, only 41 years of age -  and was like his parents buried in Vor Frue kirke in Aalborg. His wife Sophie Stensdatter Brahe retained Odden for the time being, she outlived her husband with 40 years and saw almost all her children die in their best years of life, seven married daughters and the son Ove, the last male of the family, died before her,  only the daughter Ide outlived her.

Fru Sophie had in 1656 refrained Odden, Birkelse and Høgholt to her children and children-in-law. Høgholt came via the daughter Lisbet to the family Rosenkrantz, Birkelse came to a branch of the family Skeel and Odden was shared between the late Anne Lunge's son, Just Justesen Høg and Otte Skeel's widow, Ide Lunge, who swapped away her halfpart to her sister's son Mogens Christensen Skeel, who became the sole owner of Odden by in 1661 buying Just Høg's part. After him came Odden to the son Ove Lunge, who died unmarried in 1637, the last male of his family. His mother Sophie Stensdater Brahe ( + 1659) took over manor and estate.
And this was the end of the Lunge era at Odden.

Various owners


today:

 Odden J.F.Willumsen Collection

Odden, foto gb

he word Odden means an isthmus, a spit of land - the manor was built upon a spit of land, on the northernest spit of a low hillside or an isthmus, which grew out from a meadow surrounded on both sides by brooks which went together and formed a small lake, where the water was used for the mill.


The main building is one of the district's most interesting secular buildings, but its history is not fully known. The manor has three wings of which the built-together south and east wings are from the first half of the 1500s, while the low west wing in half-timbering is built ab. 1765. The oldest part is probably the east wing, with Ove Vincentsen Lunge as the building master. The white-washed wing has a red tiled roof. Remarkable is the great blændingskors (cross) upon the southern gable, a so-called patriark-cross placed between the two upper windows of the gable. The cross is the distinctive mark of the family Lunge and it shows that the east wing must be built in the Catholic period. The south wing with a gate-passage was probably built by Christoffer Lunge in the 1540s. Much later probably after a fire in 1763 is the present west wing which was built in half-timbering in one storey.

Odden might have looked rather sinister in its first time with the dark, heavy buildings without towers or spires and its small windows placed rather randomly. It was known as one of the oldest farms in all of Jutland, no older neighbouring moat sugessts, that it earlier was placed otherwise. Now the more than 400 years old buildings are whitewashed and lights up the landscape.

The land of the manor was outparcelled in 1945-46. Today Odden is used for exhibitions based upon a large collection of the Danish artist J.F.Willumsen's works.


Mygdal church., built about 1300.

Mygdal kirke, wikipedia

The rather desolate placed white-washed church in Mygdal has a late Romanesque choir and nave, a chapel by the north side of the choir from ab. 1550-60 and a porch from 1897. The late Romanesque building is mainly in bricks and is closely related to the Vendsyssel brick-work group. Both gables are re-walled. The choir arch inside is extended and both choir and nave have beamed ceilings. The large chapel at the northside of the choir was probably built by Christoffer Lunge as a burial chapel.

Interior: A walled communion table in monk bricks. The altar piece has sections from Renaissance with the coat of arms of Ove Lunge and Anne Sehested upon the foot piece;  it was re-made in Rococo in 1777 with the names of Pors Munch and Else Joh. Seidelin and a new painting. Chalice from 1761. Late Gothic ore candelabres. A small gilt alabast crucifix is now in the National Museum. A Romanesque granite font, half-circular basin upon a hollow pyramid-foot. A south German bowl from ab. 1575 with engraved coat of arms of Kaspar Markdaner and Sofie Oldeland. A late Gothic choir arch crucifix from ab. 1500 upon a new wooden cross.

Upon the north wall a pretty fresco of Maria with child from the late 1300s probably by the same painter who made Skt Kristoffer in Hjørring. Below Maria a coat of arms with chess-pattern, probably for Niels Mogensen Glob who was know in this region in 1394. A pulpit in simple Baroque with painted year 1777, repaired 1932. The church bell with the name "Rose" was cast in 1560 by Peder Lauridsen for Christoffer Lunge and hangs in a bell frame. In the choir wall a magnificent Renaissance grave stone from 1576 for Christoffer Lunge, who was killed in 1565 at Falkenberg and Karen Jørgensdatter( Juel) + 1556, with portrait figures of both.



source: Danske slotte og herregårde, bd. 10, Vendsyssel, Odden, Danske kirker,

Farsø church, Himmerland, Vesthimmerlands Kommune

Farsø Sogn is a parish in western Himmerland in Vesthimmerlands Kommune..Until the reform in 1970 it was in Gislum herred (Aalborg Amt). Farsø Kirke is situated in Farsø village 12 km west of the town Aars. The church was restored and had the walls replaced in 1991.

The church in Farsø was possibly inaugurated to Our Lady in the Middle Ages. The choir and nave are Romanesque in finely carved granite ashlars above a double plinth. Both original doors are preserved. The southdoor is bricked up. In front of the southdoor is a Romanesque grave stone. In the southern wall of the choir is a somewhat worn-out chess board ashlar. At the northern wall of the nave is a grave stone for Anne Cathrine Ørum of Farsø, who died in 1726, the grave stone is a re-used Romanesque profile ashlar, around the stone are several Romanesque building remains. The north door is still in use , here is a tympanum with a double lion like the lions on the baptismal font. In the porch is a rune stone; the inscription is: Toste og Esben rejste denne sten over Tue..... in the bottom of the stone is a Viking ship, maybe this is Nagelfar, the death ship in the Ragnarok-legend. (the Armageddon). The tower was built in the late Gothic period, the porch is from present time. Upon the new church yard is an obelisque-like stone, decorated with cross-shaped birds, carved by Erik Heide. 

Upon the church yard south of the church is a grave site for veterinarian Hans Jensen (died 1923) and his daughter, the author Thit Jensen (died 1957). Hans Jensen was the father of the author Johannes V. Jensen and Thit Jensen. Some years before her death Thit Jensen moved to Farsø and lived directly south of the church. Johannes V. Jensen is buried in Bispebjerg church yard in Copenhagen.

The Romanesque choir arch is preserved with a slant plinth. The choir has a beamed ceiling, the nave had a vault in the late Gothic period. The altar piece is from the late 1800s, the painting made in 1943. The original painting is now placed upon the church wall. The pulpit is from the beginning of the 1600s. The Romanesque granite font has double lions and male heads in strong reliefs.

Upon the triumph wall to the north hangs a crucifix, carved by Johannes Josephsen from Viborg in 1965, the figure is carved after the ivory crucitfix from ab. 1250 in Herlufsholms kirke. In the choir is an epitaph from 1651 for Søren Hanssøn Wiborg. A sculpture by Thorvald Odgaard hangs upon the southern wall of the nave from 2004. It shows the angel by the empty grave.

In Farsø is a museum for Johannes V. Jensen  and memorial rooms for Thit Jensen.


http://www.jensenmuseet.dk/


http://www.visitvesthimmerland.dk/thit-jensens-mindestue-gdk623594

Upon the nave was in 1904 revealed frescoes from the middle of the 1500s. The motifs were from the old and the new testament. The frescoes are attributed the Torum master and was paid by Poul Vognsen and wife Anne Hansdatter Bildt of Støtterup. (in the 1500s) The frescoes were washed over again. In 1989 some frescoes were revealed and restored in the first bay of the nave.

photos from wikipedia

Johannes V. Jensen:

Ejsing church / Ejsing kirke , Northwest Jutland

17 km northeast of Struer
before 1970: Ginding herred Ringkøbing amt 
Today: Holstebro Kommune, Region Midtjylland

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Ejsing kirke, Wikipedia

Ejsing church is one of Denmarks largest village churches - situated in a pretty landscape between Venø bugt and Hjerl Hede.

The church was built in 1125-1175 but is dominated by late Gothic additions in the 1400s.

The Romanesque kernel is choir and nave in small granite ashlars. A sacristy was added to the choir in the late Gothic period and after this a side nave of four bays. The church stands with five coherent glare gables. The complete addition to the Romanesque church is finished with a porch at the southside and a tall slim tower to the west. The whole church  has a lead roof.

In the southern wall of the nave is inserted an ashlar with six squares, each surrounded by a circle, possibly a corbel. In the same wall is a relief ashlar with a cross in a circle and an inserted  Romanesque gravestone with cross and majuskel-inscription over "Asser son of Tyge Crabbe and fru Ide". At the window of the nave east of the porch is an overwashed relief-ashlar  with a worn human head and an ashlar with a circular groove, which possibly is a stone mason mark.

Ejsing church has some interesting frescoes from the 1500s in the choir vault and the vaults of the southern chapel, and a large coat of arms is painted on the wall of the nave for Mogens Rosenkrantz and wife Sophie Bille of Landting .

Ejsing kirke, Google Earth

The church has a rich inventory. The earliest is the Romanesque baptismal font with many interesting high reliefs and a Latin inscription. A medieval wooden figure from a side alter shows the patron Saint Dionysius. From the same period in the middle of the 1400s origins a choir arch crucifix, where the sidefigures are from the 1700s.

The Baroque inventory is striking. The pulpit with a sounding board is from 1656. It has rich carvings with winding pillars, oval fields and Christ and the Evangelists in reliefs.

The heir of  the manor Landting, Marianne Bernsdorph and her first husband Niels Lillelund gave the church two pompous Rococo-pieces, the altarpiece dated 1764 and the manor-gallery at the southside of the nave from 1765, besides a chandelier from 1766 in the sidenave.

Furthermore is a priest's chair and a parish clerk chair with the image of a singing clerk.

Axel N. Rosenkrantz and Birgitte Knob

The grave memorials are gathered in the western section of the side-nave and in the south chapel. The finest grave stone is in the south chapel, a wellkept repainted figure-stone for Axel Rosenkrantz and wife Berethe Knobsdatter, who both died at Landting in 1551.

The magnificent manor Landting was broken down in 1855 and the land was being outparcelled .
Se description of Landting below.

The church yard is very well kept with many black granite stones from the local stone mason. In Ejsing church yard is buried the last tater in Denmark Stærke Hans (Strong Hans).

 

 

 

The medieval manor Landting

The medieval Landting

The manor Landting was in the Middle Ages placed in a large wet area , a water stream run through it. From the manor was over 100 meter to firm ground to the north. It is still a very moist castle site, which is situated about 1000 meter from Limfjorden. It is not known exactly when the manor Landting was built or by whom, but it happened probably in the 1300s, where the estate belonged to the family Eberstein.

An important part of the earthworks of Landting are kept. Today the tall square castle bank measures 40x 50 m and is surrounded by a deep moat. Outside this is another bank where the long sides are up till 100 meter long. The castle bank was probably the main bank of the castle with a large tower. A dam lead from the castle site to the place where (the ladegård) farm of the manor was situated. Here lies today a farm called Landting.

(The castle bank might be overploughed).

The name Landting, Langetind og Longæting means high tower, which suggest that the manor had a tower from the beginning.


During the unrest years in the beginning of the 1300s Landting belonged to Albert Albertsen Eberstein. He or one of his descendants had taken part of the building of the castle. The owner in 1360 was Henrik Albertsen (Eberstein). His daughter Karen was married to Aage Hedisen Puder, she lived as a widow at Landting in 1422, their daughter was married to Jens Eriksen Banner who died in 1445, whereafter his daughter Mette and her husband ridder Niels Eriksen Gyldenstjerne took over Landting. Niels Eriksen Gyldenstjerne was one of the magnates of the country, and he was in 1456 appointed the king's court master. After his death in 1484 his daughter Inger took over Landting. She was a widow after Niels Timmesen Rosenkrantz with whom she had the son Axel who is mentioned as the owner of Landting in 1505.

Landting painted 1840 by Rasmus Kruse.

In the late Middle Ages was at the nortside of the central castle said to be built a heavy bricked tower of three storeys, maybe a replacement for an earlier tower. It was said that the then owner of Landting Axel Nielsen  Rosenkrantz during Grevens Fejde in 1534 defended his manor against Skipper Clements ship which lay out in Venø bugt shooting at the castle -  which was not damaged much. The rebellious peasants had no success and the rebellion was fought down. After the victory Axel Rosenkrantz accussed the peasants in Hardsyssel for their rebellion -and they were convicted of their rights to own their farms.

In the middle of the 1500s a large stone house was built along the westside of the castle bank in the characteristic architecture of the Renaissance. The house was in three storeys, red washed and with stepped gables. The building master was probably Axel Nielsen Rosenkrantz who lived there with his family. Along the other sides of the bank were built large timbered houses.

The break down of the pretty manor began in the beginning of 1805. The cattle-trading family Windfeldt took over the estate in 1815, and in the middle of the 1800s the rest of the magnificent building were completely gone.

The name Landting was used for the manor farm (ladegården)  as the center in a large agriculture and in 1855 the owner Jørgen Windfeldt let build the present main building.

Source: Danmarks kirker , Niels Peter Stilling. Wikipedia DK.
photo: Wikipedia/Google Earth 

Broager church, Broager parish, Sønderborg Municipality

photo wikipedia.

Broager kirke, Broager sogn, Sønderborg Kommune. 


The Romanesque church in Broager was built ab. 1200. The building is in monk stone, the apse, choir and nave are from about 1209, the late Romanesque broad tower is from about 1300, while the two Gothic spires are from about 1400. (31 m high)  A Gothic sacristy and two Gothic cross-arm chapels are also from the 1400s.The church is consegrated to virgin Mary, but it is more known for its connection to Sct. George.

The church in Broager is mentioned the first time in 1209, where the Slesvig bishop gives the tiende (=the tax-income) of seven churches in Sønderjylland to the monks in Ryd kloster (now Lycksborg/ Glücksborg).

The twin towers of Broager church were said to be important during the Preussian bombardment of Dybbøl in the spring 1864. A lookout post was posted upon a footbridge between the spires from where the soldiers could see the grenade rebates in relation to Dybbøl Mølle. And then the aim of the Danish canons could be corrected.

phoito: gb

The main nave of the church forms a cross where the side naves are cross-arms. In the Gothic period the flat beamed ceiling was replaced with high point-arched vaults. In this way there are two styles in the church, both the round-arched Romanesque and the point-arched Gothic style. The church room is one of the most integrated village church rooms in Denmark - there is a gorgeous light among the Gothic cross vaults.

The church is white washed and with many decorations, cornices, friezes,pilasters, three Romanesque round-arched windows are kept.The roofs are covered with slate, except the apse which has a lead roof. Women had their own entrance which is bricked-up. There is also a bricked-up door by the choir. The main entrance today is via the room under the tower. In a corner of the bricked-up north door are two logos, possibly the signature of the brick burner.

 Collection of frescoes

photo all frescoes: gb

 
 

There are many frescoes in Broager church from 4 periods, Romanesque from the beginning of the 1200s, Gothic from  ab. 1500 and Renaissance paintings from 1587. Supposedly the earliest frescoes are from the time when the church was built.  In the frescoes from the 1500s is a story about Sct George's martyrdom in divided frames.

photo wikipedia

Below the Sct George- frescoe stands one of the finest "Sct George and the Dragon" sculptures. (Sct George = Danish: Sct. Jørgen) in Denmark.

The sculpture of Sct. George is from the 1400s, while the funny fire-breathing green dragon with a horn in the forehead was renewed  in 1880.

photo gb

The church was changed and rebuilt several times through the centuries - in the late 1990s the frescoes were thoroughly cleansed and the colour-plan in the church was changed from dark to light shades. The pulpit and the baptismal font were moved and the altarpiece was moved ftom its place above the altar which made three southern windows visible. The restoration was in cooperation with architects Hans Lund og Alan Havsteen-Mikkelsen. The last mentioned designed the new altar railings and created the glass mosaics in the middle window of the apse..

photo gb

The altarpiece from 1717 had in 1993 a thorough restoration, made by Anthon Günther Lundt from Sønderborg. The style is Baroque with accanthus foliage. The pulpit is renaissance from 1591 made at one of the fine local joiner-workshops in Flensborg. The baptismal font origins from the first building period of the church together with the communion table. The font - a socalled Funen-type -  is  put together by two granite types, a reddish basin upon a greyish foot. Upon the foot are four carved male heads, two with pageboy haircuts and no  beard and two with center parting and beard. The lid of the font is a wooden crown from 1787. The baptismal dish is brass from the same period.
The font shows the Broager connection to the south Funen district. 

Other inventory:
A Gothic crucifix from second half of the 1200s. The large organ is decorated with a Rococo gallery  from 1746- The nine painted fields in the gallery refer to texts in the bible. In the church are also four pretty chandeliers, where the earliest is from ab. 1700.

photo; wikipedia

                                                        
Upon the eastern section of the church yard stands a large wooden bell stable/belfry, built in 1650 in heavy oak. The bell house measures 7x7 m in basic plan and is the largest in Denmark  The church yard is one of the most interesting in Denmark. A  medieval custom is still used. Graves are divided north south east west in direction of the villages.

As for a view of Danish history the church yard is a monument to Danish-German conflicts  or cooperation during the latest 150 years. The Preussian army-batteries shot down the Dybbøl position  in April 1864  before the decisive attack on the 18 April. The highplaced Broager landscape was always of a strategic importance which is also is also reflected in the church yard.

Dybbøl , photo gb

The warrior graves from the Three Year War 1848-1851 are like in other places in this disttict a memory of a war without winners - but the large grave site from the war in 1864 is a manifestation over Danish and especially German warrior deed as is seen in the long inscriptions of the memorials.. In front of a common grave among the German graves is an obelisk for 73 Danish soldiers, who were killed at Dybbøl in 1864 in a losing battle to keep the land on Danish hands.



The tragic war-history's ultimate monument is seen just outside the expanded church yard:  A giant hill, built as a memory of the killed soldiers from Broagerland. The hill was plant with nine oaks for nine owner associations . In front of the hill are 165 field stones, one for each affected family , with carved names for 190 killed soldiers from WWI in 1914-1918. In 1920 the land of Broager came together with the other part of North Schleswig back to Denmark. The socalled Gendarmestone opposite the giant hill was erected in memory of two Danish policemen who died in German concentration camp in WWII.





Sources: 
Niels Peter Stilling, Politikens bog om Danmarks Kirker, 2000,
Danmarks Kirker , Nationalmuseet.


photo: Broager kirke, grethe bachmann
photo: wikipedia

Gunderup church/ Gunderup kirke, Fleskum herred, Aalborg amt.

Gunderup church, ( the name in 1355 Gundorp), lies 13 km south of Aalborg. It is a large building with Romanesque choir and nave and late Gothic additions, among others a chapel with frescoes from the beginning of the 1500s. The church lies desolate in Gunderup village. It was by people called Himmerland's cathedral, both because of its size, but also because of its central situation as a crossroad-church in a large parish. The Romanesque choir and nave are built in granite ashlars above a bevelled plinth. Both doors are kept, the south door is bricked, the north door still in use. The north door has profiled corbels, it is curved outside and straight edged finish inside, in the treshold stone is carved a cross. In the southwall of the choir is a bricked door with a heavy rundstav (round stick) which in the bottom rests profiled bell-like bases. In the south wall of the church is an ashlar with a hand holding a key, probably a symbol of Sanct Peter. At the south side of the nave is a cross arms-chapel,  a sacristy to the north, tower and porch are built in the late Gothic period.

 
















Runestones
In the porch are two runestones with inscriptions:

a) Toke rejste disse stene og gjorde disse kumler efter sin måg Api en velbyrdig thegn og sin moder Tove. De ligger begge i denne høj. Api undte Toke sit gods efter sig. (" Toke raised these stones and made these memorials after his stepfather Api, a noble-born man (thegn) and his mother Tove.They both lie in this hill. Api gave his goods to Toke.") The hill was demolished in the 1700s, but the stone was saved by Gunderup's parish priest.


 b) "Østen satte denne sten efter sin fader Asulv". ("Østen raised this stone after his father Asulv."
This other stone is  probably from Sweden according to several Swedish runes in the short inscription. It is dated to the 800s.

The building was restored in 1914.
 

Interior
The high choir arch is kept with profiled corbel bands and a corniche plint. In the late Gothic period the choir and nave got a cross vault. Between nave and south chapel are two point-arched arcades. The stairs to the pulpit are built through the arcade pillar. The altarpiece is a Lutheranian triptychon from 1537-38 and the earliest Lutheranian altarpiece in Denmark. The pulpit is also a great rarity . It is from the 1790s and one of few classical pulpits in Denmark.

Unique lion font.
The Romanesque granite font has double lions with intertwined tails upon the basin. It is of the Himmerland-Mariager type. Together with the font in Stenild church at Hobro the font in Gunderup is the most magnificent of its kind. 

 Frescoes
In 1930 frescoes were uncovered from the late Gothic period in the south chapel. Upon the arcade pillar is Mary seen in solgissel, (sunbeams) in the curve is Christoffer. In the vaults are other biblical motifs. The frescoes were conserved by E. Lind. Some coat of arms for Rod and Vårst were not preserved. The frescoes are dated ab. 1500, the style is mannered and the composition is messy.

photo: Google earth and wikipedia. 

Gangsted church/ Gangsted kirke, Voer herred, Aarhus amt.

                                                                              

West of the village lies Gangsted church in a low rise in a highplaced open agricultural land in the central section of Voer herred. The churchyard is surrounded by a granite boulder dike. In the western side of the churchyard is a burial chamber from 1948. Earlier was a church barn northwest of the tower. 

Gangsted church has a Romanesque choir and nave. It is built in  rough-carved granite ashlars upon a bevelled plinth. Inside the church are fieldstone-walls and a few ashlars in the west-end of the nave. The north door and some windows are bricked, and outside the south door was in the Middle Ages built a porch in granite and half-timber. A bricked bench is kept in the room of the porch.

Both doors have very impressive rectangular lintels. One early window is kept in the north side of the choir and another re-opened in 1900. At the gable of the porch is a lintel in grey-red granite. The tower is Late Gothic in monk bricks and re-used granite ashlars, and it has a  pyramid roof and a weather vane from 1782  (1893?)with initials I S C M I.  The tower had originally stepped gables north-south. The northwest corner of the tower rests upon a large fieldstone with marks after the stonemason's chisel.

Inside the church has the nave a flat ceiling, and the choir and tower are overvaulted since the Late Gothic period.The church had main reparations in 1794,1807, 1832 and a large restoration in the middle of the 1980s. The floor got black-greywhite tiles in 1907. In 1987-88 were found fragments of frescoes made after the Middle Ages (black drapery) In 1932 a glass painting was made in the west of the tower room.

                                                                             
Interior:
The altarpiece is Baroque ab. 1600, a carved work, given by Gedske Lucasdatter. A lightning in the church 1894 damaged the altarpiece which got a new painting in the big field in 1895, a copy of Carl Bloch's "Julenat" (Christmas Night). The pulpit is new, from ab. 1800 in oak and with painted figures, the granite font is Romanesque with  lion figures and foliage. (Horsens-type).

Parking place reserved the church singer and the priest.

                                                                                                                                                       
 A brass money box, a bell from 1837 cast by Carl Frederik Weiss, Horsens   A memory tablet from 1695 with the names Bertel Fædder, Laurits Friis and their wife Gedske Lucasdatter (+ 1695). A memory tablet over 2 killed soldiers from 1864. A coffin crucifix from 1650-1700.  3 cast iron crosses from 1854 in church yard. .











Tyrrestrup see blog:  Søvind church , owner today: Jens Harder




 source: Danmarks Kirker. National Museet.

photo: grethe bachmann 
+ Google Earth.