Sæby Church ( Danish: ''Sæby Kirke'') is located in the small village of Sæby on the

Hornsherred Hornsherred () is a peninsula between Roskilde Fjord and Isefjord on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. It falls within the expanded Frederikssund municipality and includes Jægerspris and Skibby and before 1 January 2007 a part of Bra ...

peninsula,

Lejre Municipality Lejre Municipality () is a '' kommune'' in the Region Zealand of Denmark. The current municipality was established on 1 January 2007 as a result of ''Kommunalreformen'' ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), merging the former Lejre Municipality wi ...

, some 50 km west of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Originating in a Romanesgue church from the 13th century, later expanded with a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

tower, it owes its current appearance to a renovation undertaken by

Jørgen Hansen Koch Jørgen Hansen Koch (4 September 1787 – 30 January 1860) was a Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical Denmark, Danish architect. He was chief of the national Danish building administration from 1835 and director of the Royal Danish Academy ...

in 1824.

History

The Romanesque church was constructed in the 13th century. Nothing is known about its ownership in the Middle Ages. After the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, it was confiscated by the Crown. In 1650, it was sold to Oluf Rosenkrantz, the owner of nearby Egholm. He would later also purchase Gershøj and Skibby churches. In 1810, along with Krabbesholm, it was sold to Nicolai Abraham Holten. In 1824, Holten commissioned

to expand the church. A new rectory was in 1830 constructed next to the church. It was possibly sponsored by the wealthy industrialist Heinrich Gamst. after Johan Frederik Storck, who married Gamst's niece Charlotte Kund, in 1830, had received appointment as pastor at the church the previous year. On 1 January 1909, it was ceded to the congregation.

Architecture

The church building consists of a Romanesque nave, a

tower from the 15th century and an eastern

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

extension with chancel and apse from 1824. The older parts of the building was in connection with Koch's renovation dressed with yellow brick, similar to those used for the new part of the building.

Interior and furnishings

The interior walls of the nave feature two plaster reliefs by

Herman Wilhelm Bissen Herman Wilhelm Bissen (13 October 1798 – 10 March 1868) was a Danish sculptor. Bissen created a number of public works, working in plaster, marble and bronze. The National Gallery of Denmark owns a collection of over two hundred of his ...

, depicting "Christ with the Small Children" (north wall) and "Lazarus awakening" (south wall). The empire-style pulpit was designed by Jørgen Hansen Koch. It has a cylindrical shape and is white lacquered with gilded details. The altarpiece features a tall, narrow painting by

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (2 January 1783 – 22 July 1853) was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig (now in Aabenraa Municipality, in the southern part of Jutland in Denmark). He went on to lay the foun ...

, depicting the resurrected Jesus, in an arch-headed frame with gilded arcanthus ornamentation.

Graveyard

The layout of the graveyard has not changed since the renovation of the church in 1824. In the northeastern corner of the graveyard stands a memorial to the farmer Lars Pedersen from Hyllingeledsgården, who died in 1833, It was erected by N. A. Holten to designs by the prominent sculptor

Hermann Ernst Freund Hermann Ernst Freund (15 October 1786 – 30 June 1840) was a German-born Danish sculptor. He is remembered in particular for his figures from Nordic mythology and for the Ragnarok Frieze. Biography Born near Bremen, Holy Roman Empire, Freund w ...

References

{{WikidataCoord Churches in Lejre Municipality Buildings and structures of the Rosenkrantz family Buildings and structures completed in 1824 Churches in the Diocese of Roskilde Jørgen Hansen Koch buildings 1820s architecture in Denmark

History

Architecture

Interior and furnishings

Graveyard

See also

References