The Church of Our Savior (Danish ''Vor Freslers Kirke'') is a wooden

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

church in

Qaqortoq Qaqortoq, formerly Julianehåb, is a city in the Kujalleq municipalities of Greenland, municipality in southern Greenland, located near Cape Thorvaldsen. With a population of 3,050 in 2020, it is the most populous town and the municipal capital in ...

, the largest town in southern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

. It was established in 1832. The red church is part of the old, colonial harbour district of the town.

History

The church was built from 1832, and was commissioned and built by the city of

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and village ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and Danish missionaries. It was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

the same year. The church has been refurbished and rebuilt several times since. Until the newer

Gertrud Rasch's Church Qaqortoq, formerly Julianehåb, is a city in the Kujalleq municipalities of Greenland, municipality in southern Greenland, located near Cape Thorvaldsen. With a population of 3,050 in 2020, it is the most populous town and the municipal capital in ...

was built in 1973, it was the only church serving the Qaqortoq congregation. The church housed a library at the second floor until the 1940s.

Interior

The ceiling ship is a model of the royal trade ship ''Hvalfisken'', which was in service for almost a century, starting in 1804. The church also holds the commemorative wreath and the

lifebuoy A lifebuoy is a life-saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in water, to provide buoyancy and prevent drowning. Some modern lifebuoys are fitted with one or more seawater-activated lights, to aid rescue at night. Other names Other nam ...

for '' M/S Hans Hedtoft'', which sank south of Cape Farewell on her maiden voyage on January 30, 1959. The buoy was found on Iceland and is the only wreckage found of the ship. The organ of the church is a 4 stop, foot pumped, Marcussen Organ from 1930.

Landmarks

Outside the church is a memorial

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

for the missionary

Hans Egede Hans Poulsen Egede (31 January 1686 – 5 November 1758) was a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a successful mission among the Inui ...

and his wife

Gertrud Rask Gertrud Rask (167321 December 1735) was the first wife of the Danish-Norwegian missionary to Greenland Hans Egede and was the mother of the missionary and translator Paul Egede. Life in Norway Gertrud Rask (the parish register records her as Gj ...

References

{{Qaqortoq Churches in Greenland Qaqortoq Churches completed in 1832 19th-century Lutheran churches