The Holmen Church ( da, Holmens Kirke) is a

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, ...

in central

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 ...

, on the street called Holmens Kanal. First built as an anchor forge in 1563, it was converted into a naval church by

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 ...

. It is famous for having hosted the wedding between

Margrethe II of Denmark Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

, current queen of Denmark, and Prince Henrik in 1967. It is the burial site of such notabilities as naval heroes

Niels Juel Niels Juel (8 May 1629 – 8 April 1697) was a Danish admiral and a naval hero. He served as supreme command of the Dano-Norwegian Navy during the late 17th century and oversaw development of the Danish-Norwegian Navy. Background Niels Juel ...

and

Peter Tordenskjold Peter Jansen Wessel Tordenskiold (28 October 1690 – 12 November 1720), commonly referred to as Tordenskjold (), was a Norwegian nobleman and flag officer who spent his career in the service of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. He rose to the ran ...

, and composer Niels Wilhelm Gade, and contains artwork by, among others, Bertel Thorvaldsen and

Karel van Mander Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembere ...

The church building

The appearance of the Holmen Church today closely resembles that of the renovation in 1872, except for the colour. The windows are in clear glass and predominantly set in iron. The spire is dressed in

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

just like small spire on the confessional's roof. The church is of Lutheran denomination.

Interior

The church's

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

was originally made by Lambert Daniel Kastens and installed in 1738, and the façade remains in place today. The actual organ, however, is from 1956. The current pulpit was installed in 1662 and was carved by

Abel Schrøder Abel Schrøder, also Abel Schrøder the Younger, (c. 1602–1676) was a Danish woodcarver with a workshop in Næstved, then the centre for woodcarving in Southern Zealand. He is remembered for his many auricular altarpieces and pulpits depicting ...

and stands in the natural colour of its

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

, except for the king and queen's monograms and crowns which are gilded. It is the oldest preserved pulpit in Copenhagen, and the most richly decorated. It stands from floor to ceiling, and depicts

Christian history The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teach ...

from

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

holding the basket up to

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. The oldest baptismal font in the church is in

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

and stands tall. A white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

font was installed in 1756, created by Carl Frederik Stanley in classicist style, but is no longer in the church. The new baptismal font from 1872 was made by the sculptor Evens by Ludvig Fenger's design, in black marble and

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) ...

. A model of

's ship ''Christianus Quintus'' hangs from the ceiling in the church.

Gallery

Holmens Kirke Copenhagen 2.jpg, Exterior Image:Holmens Kirke Copenhagen organ2.jpg, Organ Image:Holmens Kirke Copenhagen pulpit.jpg, Pulpit Image:Holmens Kirke Copenhagen compas rose.jpg,

Compass rose A compass rose, sometimes called a wind rose, rose of the winds or compass star, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart, or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their i ...

and baptismal font Image:Holmens Kirke Copenhagen altar 2.jpg, Over the altar

History

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Copenhagen, Holmen (or Bremerholm) was an actual island. However, in the 16th century, city restructuring made it less of an island and more of a peninsula surrounded by Holmens Canal. On this peninsula, Christian III of Denmark founded a shipyard which became synonymous with the name ''Holmen''. When the shipyard moved to Nyholm on

Christianshavn Christianshavn (literally, "ingChristian's Harbour") is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of th ...

, the name ''Holmen'' followed, and Bremerholm then became Gammelholm (old island), a name which is rarely used today. Holmens Canal was filled in the 1860s, but the name lives on as a street.

The anchor forge

In 1562–63, Frederick II of Denmark built an anchor forge for Holmen, which was placed on the other side of the canal. The building was atypically shaped, as special consideration was given not to spoil the view from the king's castle,

Christiansborg Christiansborg Palace ( da, Christiansborg Slot; ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament ('), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme ...

. The actual forge was hidden behind a taller building, called ''the tower'', which was given a handsome front in Italian style facing the castle, and which was erected by Peter de Dunckers.

The first church

In 1617,

Christian IV of Denmark 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 mon ...

has built houses for the navy's personnel between the Church of Saint Nikolaj and Holmen. This created an influx in population which made it necessary to build a larger church, which the king had set up in the former anchor forge. At first, the reconstruction into a church caused no redesign of the building's blueprints. The church was consecrated on September 5, 1619, but craftsmen were still working on the church during 1620. The building had certain similarities to a village church, with the higher tower as a bell tower in one end, but the tower was not an actual part of the church, and the bells were situated in the opposite end of the building. Not much is known about the decoration of the first church.

The cruciform church

The church quickly became too small, and already in 1641, it was decided to expand it into a cruciform church. The tower was incorporated into the church, and the remainder of the church was brought to the same height. The two new arms are slightly shorter than the two old ones. Leonhard Blasius was the builder of the church, but indications are that the king decided on the layout of the church, modeled after the

Glücksburg Castle Glücksburg Castle ( German: Schloss Glücksburg, Danish: ''Lyksborg Slot'') is one of the most significant Renaissance castles in Northern Europe. The castle was the headquarters of the ducal lines of the house of Glücksburg and temporarily serv ...

church. The walls are tile on a high foundation of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

blocks. The new arms were built in yellow bricks which are smaller than the stone used in the tower. In order for the building to have a uniform look, the walls were painted in yellow and red vertical stripes on which white lines were painted in order to resemble a brick wall. The spire was built in two stories with the bells in the bottom half. This spire has caused significant problems over the years, as the wooden construction of the roof was not strong enough to carry the weight. The construction was reinforced in 1698 and in 1793, but not until 1930 was the collapse halted by the introduction of an iron construction. It is estimated that the spire sits 60 cm (two feet) lower than when it was first built.

Later changes

The major Copenhagen fires of 1728 and 1795 did not affect the Holmen Church, and the bombardments in 1659 and 1807 only caused minor damage to the church, and thus the fundamental shape of the church today is the same as when it was first constructed. However, a

cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

is visible in the

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In c ...

on the northern side of the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

, supposedly from the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

assault in 1658. In 1697 a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was built for

in the church, designed by Ernst Brandenburger. This building was later removed after the construction of Niels Juel's

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

. When

Roskilde Cathedral Roskilde Cathedral ( da, Roskilde Domkirke), in the city of Roskilde on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark, is a cathedral of the Lutheranism, Lutheran Church of Denmark. The cathedral is the most importan ...

was renovated,

's portal from 1635 was transferred to the eastern gable of the Holmen Church. The sculpting and

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

were repaired early in the 20th century, as had become necessary due to the sinking of spire construction. In preparation for the wedding between Hereditary Princess Margrethe and Prince Henrik in 1967, which took place in the church, the church underwent major restoration. This included changing the wooden floor to stone.

References

Notes

Literature

* ''Danmarks Kirker'' ( en, Churches of Denmark),

, vol. 2: Holmens Kirke. pp. 3–222 (vols 8–9), Nationalmuseet 1960–1965 * ''København før og nu – og aldrig. Gammelholm og Frederiksholm'', Volume 2, Steffen Lindval, Ed. Bo Bramsen og Palle Fogtdal, Forlaget Palle Fogtdal, 1987, 1996. * ''Ankerkæden – Kirkeblad for Holmens Kirke'', 83. Year 4, December, January, February 2006–07. Page 11.

External links

*
orlogsmuseet.dk

kirkeskibet.dk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmen Church Buildings and structures completed in 1563 Commercial buildings completed in the 16th century Religious buildings and structures completed in 1619 17th-century Church of Denmark churches Lutheran churches in Copenhagen 1619 establishments in Denmark Churches in the Diocese of Copenhagen