Gudhjem Church is the parish church of

Gudhjem Gudhjem is a small town and fishing port on the northern coast of the Baltic island of Bornholm, Denmark. Its population is 736 (1 January 2022). Gudhjem is a popular venue for tourists who are attracted by its steep, picturesque streets, views ...

on the north coast of the Danish island of

Bornholm Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by ...

. Completed in 1893, it replaces the now ruined St Anne's Chapel (''Sct Anna Kapel'').

History

In the Middle Ages, Gudhjem's St Anne's Chapel served the fishing communities on Bornholm's northern coast and was probably also used by

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...

visitors from the north of Germany. Based in particular on the fresco's discovered on the south wall, it is estimated that the chapel was built around 1300. Alterations were first carried out in the Middle Ages and again in 1790. With the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

the church passed from the

Archbishopric of Lund The Diocese of Lund ( sv, Lunds stift) is a diocese within the Church of Sweden which corresponds to the provinces of Blekinge and Skåne. There are 217 parishes within the diocese, the most significant number in any of the dioceses of the Chur ...

to the Danish crown where it still belonged in 1809 but later became fully independent as is the present church. In 1895, the old church was dismantled. The new church, consecrated on 3 September 1893, was located to the west of the old churchyard as it was decided to leave the foundations of St Anne's in place, safeguarding its site as one of the island's last coastal chapels.Otto Norn, C. G. Schultz, Erik Skov, "Allinge Kirke: Bornholms Nørre Herred"
Danmarks Kirker, Bornholm, Nationalmuseet, Gad, 1954, pp. 432–448.

Description

Mathias Bidstrup Mathias Andreas Bidstrup (25 March 1852 – 25 January 1929) was a Danish architect. Biography He was born in Rønne, Bornholm, the son of cobbler Jorgen Bernhard Bidstrup and Marie Hansine Sonne. Mathias Bidstrup attended the Royal Danish A ...

, the new church consists of a nave, a polygonal apse at the eastern end and a tower with a spire to the west. It is built of granite blocks and has a slate roof. Some of the artefacts from the old church can be seen in the new one. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

in the form of a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...

dates from c. 1475 and is from a Lübeck workshop. The centrepiece shows the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

on her deathbed together with the twelve apostles. The panel on the left depicts

St Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

with the infant Jesus as well as St John and other saints. The right panel presents St Dorothea with

St Olaf Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title ''Rex Perpet ...

to one side. The pulpit from 1575 was substantially reworked in 1789. Its four panels, separated by columns, show the four apostles."Gudhjem kirke"
''Bornholmerguiden.dk''. Retrieved 16 July 2012.

References

{{Bornholm Denmark Churches in Bornholm Gothic Revival church buildings in Denmark Churches completed in 1893