Christian's Church ( da, Christians Kirke) is a

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

in the Christianshavn district of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Designed by

Nicolai Eigtved Nicolai Eigtved, also known as Niels Eigtved (4 June 1701 – 7 June 1754) was a Danish architect. He introduced and was the leading proponent of the French rococo or late baroque style in Danish architecture during the 1730s–1740s. He design ...

, it was built 1754–59. The church was originally built by the German community as a church for their large community at Christianshavn and served this purpose until the end of the 19th century. Today it is a regular

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

for Christian's Parish within the

Danish National Church The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church, sometimes called the Church of Denmark ( da, Folkekirken, literally: "The People's Church" or unofficially da, Den danske folkekirke, literally: "The Danish People's Church"; kl, ...

. Its name is a reference to King

Christian IV Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian monar ...

, who founded the Christianshavn district in 1611.

History

Origins

After

founded Christianshavn in 1617 as a town specially for merchants, a large community of German traders and craftsmen settled there. Although Christianshavn had been incorporated into Copenhagen prior to 1674, they did not attend St. Peter's Church like the rest of the city's German community but preferred to worship at the local Church of Our Saviour. This lasted until they finally asked King

Christian VI Christian VI (30 November 1699 – 6 August 1746) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1730 to 1746. The eldest surviving son of Frederick IV and Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, he is considered one of Denmark-Norway's more anonymous kings, bu ...

for permission to build their own church. The King approved the plans and contributed with a lot, a former

saltern A saltern is an area or installation for making salt. Salterns include modern salt-making works (saltworks), as well as hypersaline waters that usually contain high concentrations of halophilic microorganisms, primarily haloarchaea but also othe ...

, located at the end of Strandgade in the southern part of the neighbourhood. He also granted permission for a lottery to be held to cover the project's financing; the finished church used to be colloquially known as the Lottery Church.

Construction phase

In return for his approval and donation of the lot, the king laid down very specific guidelines for the placement and design of the church building.

, the king's preferred architect at the time, was charged with the design of the new church but died in 1754, before construction started. His son-in-law, Royal Master Builder

Georg David Anthon Georg (George) David Anthon (1 October 1714 – 30 August 1781) was a German born, Danish architect. Background Anthon was born in Northern Germany. He was student of Danish architect Nicolai Eigtved (1701–1754) and graduated as a teacher o ...

, was entrusted with supervising the construction of the church, which was completed in 1759. Anthon also designed the spire, an addition from 1769.

Frederick's German Church

The church was originally called Frederik's German Church (Danish: ''Frederiks Tyske Kirke''), and served its original purpose as a church for the German congregation until it was dissolved in 1886.

Later history

In 1901 the name of the church was changed to the current Christian's Church to complement and avoid confusion with

Frederik's Church Frederik's Church ( da, Frederiks Kirke), popularly known as The Marble Church () for its rococo architecture, is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Copenhagen, Denmark. The church forms the focal point of the Frederiksstaden district; it is loc ...

Frederiksstaden Frederiksstaden is a district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Constructed during the reign of Frederick V in the second half of the 18th century, it is considered to be one of the most important rococo complexes in Europe and was included in the 2006 Danis ...

on the other side of the harbour, as well as to commemorate Christian IV, the founder of the Christianshavn area. Since 1991 it has been a regular

for Christian's parish, which includes part of Christianshavn and

Slotsholmen Slotsholmen (English: The Castle Islet) is an island in the harbour of Copenhagen, Denmark, and part of Copenhagen Inner City. The name is taken from the successive castles and palaces located on the island since Bishop Absalon constructed the c ...

Architecture

The church has a

rectangular In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a parallelogram containin ...

layout, the nave occupying the space between the shorter rather than the longer sides of the rectangle, giving it exceptional width. Standing on a granite plinth, the church is a yellow brick (''Flensborg sten'') building with

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

finishing for the portal and tower. Ionic

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s decorate the portal and the round-arched windows are tall and slender. The tower stands 70 metres high. Designed by Eigtved's son-in-law D. G. Anthon, the

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

was added in 1769. The tower is positioned at the centre of the northern side which serves as the main facade. It stands 70 metres high.

Interior

The unusual interior of Christian's Church is reminiscent of a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

. In addition to the benches on either side of the nave, three tiers of galleries complete with boxes rise the full height of the building on the northern, western and southern sides. They are all arranged to provide the congregation with an excellent view of the podium on the eastern side, which is reminiscent of a stage. It is dominated by the tall slender altarpiece, which consists not only of the altar table but also of the pulpit above it, and the organ at the very top. The ornate entrance, topped by the royal box, is opposite the altar and under the tower on the western side. The organ stands in the integrated altarpiece above a clock face in the medieval tradition. The original instrument was built in 1759 by the leading authority of the day, Hartvig Jochum Müller. In 1917, I. Starup built a new pneumatic instrument on Müllers facade, and in 1976 the church acquired today's organ designed by P.-G. Andersen.

The crypt

The church also has a large crypt covering the full area of the nave above. Divided into 48 burial chapels, it has been used for burials ever since the church's consecration in 1759 and is still in use today. The grave of Danish historian

Peter Frederik Suhm Peter Frederik Suhm (18 October 1728 – 7 September 1798), was a Danish historian. Biography Suhm studied at the University of Copenhagen from 1746 to 1751, and one of his teachers was Ludvig Holberg. In 1749 he translated a comedy of Plautu ...

is located there, alongside the graves of his wife and son. The rock and roll guitarist Link Wray was buried there in 2005.

Burials

* Johan Friederich Wewer (1699-1759), merchant and ship-owner (moved from

Church of Holmen The Holmen Church ( da, Holmens Kirke) is a Parish church in central Copenhagen in Denmark, on the street called Holmens Kanal. First built as an anchor forge in 1563, it was converted into a naval church by Christian IV. It is famous for having ...

) * Johan Christian Just vong Berger (1723–1791), physician *

Vigilius Eriksen Vigilius Eriksen (2 September 1722 in Copenhagen – 25 May 1782 in Rungstedgård) was a Danish painter. He was the royal portraitist to Christian VI of Denmark. Biography He initially studied under Johann Salomon Wahl. In 1755 he was awa ...

(1722–1782), painter * Carl Emil Fenger (1814–1884), physician and politician * Carl Ludvig Carlach (1832–1893), composer, opera singer and educator * Leocadie Gerlach, (1826–1919), opera singer * Julie Hansen (1835–1895), actress * Peter Nicolai Heering (1838–1924), businessman * Jacob Holm (1770–1845), businessman *

Simon Hooglant Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name) Simon is a common name, from Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן '' Šimʻôn'', meaning "listen" or "hearing". It is also a classical Greek name, deriving from an adjective meaning "flat-nosed". In the fi ...

, (1712–1789), vice admiral * Knud Schroeder, (1977–1955), sculptor and professor * Simon Carl Stanley, (1703–1776), sculptor *

, (1728–1798), historian and collector * Cleophas Svenningsen, (1801–1853), educator *

Anker Sørensen Anker Sørensen (3 May 1926 – 19 August 2010) was a Danish film editor and director. He directed 18 films between 1949 and 1973. His 1960 film '' The Last Winter'' was entered into the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival. Selected film ...

, (1926–2010), filmmaker * Link Wray, (1929–2005), singer, songwriter and guitarist *

Johann Ludvig Zinn Johann Ludvig Zinn (14 September 1734 – 3 February 1802) was a German-Danish merchant who founded a trading house in Copenhagen in 1765 and died as one of the wealthiest men in the city. Zinn lived in the Zinn House at Kvæsthusgade 3 in Copenha ...

, (1734–1802), merchant *

Peter Ascanius Peter Ascanius (24 May 1723 – 4 June 1803) was a Norwegian-Danish biologist and geologist. He was a professor of zoology and mineralogy. Early life and education He was born at Aure in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. In 1742 he graduated from ...

(1723-1803), naturalist

The "Theatre Church"

As a result of its design, the church has often been called the Theatre Church. It has, however, lived up to its name as it can house up to a thousand people, not just for church services but for the many concerts and other artistic arrangements which have been held there in recent years. One of the advantages of its design is that it does not look empty even if only a few people attend such events.Kirkens historie. From Christians Kirke
. In Danish. Retrieved 25 January 2010.

Gallery

File:Christians Kirke Copenhagen 4.jpg, Main facade on the western side File:Christians Kirke Copenhagen altar pulpit organ.jpg, The altar topped by the pulpit and organ File:Christians Kirke Copenhagen kings chair.jpg, Entrance and royal box File:Christians Kirke Copenhagen crypt from entrance.jpg, The crypt

External links

Official web site

References

{{Christianshavn, Copenhagen Buildings and structures in Christianshavn Lutheran churches in Copenhagen 18th-century Church of Denmark churches German diaspora in Europe Rococo architecture in Copenhagen Tourist attractions in Copenhagen Churches in the Diocese of Copenhagen