Danmark Church ( sv, Danmarks kyrka) is a church located in the minor locality of Danmark in

Uppsala Municipality Uppsala Municipality (''Uppsala kommun'') is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Uppsala has a population of 211,411 (2016-06-30). Its seat is located in the university city of Uppsala. Uppsala Municipality was created throu ...

, Sweden, some 8 kilometers southeast of

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

History

The church is first attested in writing in 1291. In proximity to the church are several runestones, featuring Christian inscriptions and crosses. The church itself is a brick building, the oldest parts of which stem from the 14th century. By the late 15th century, the church had roughly the same appearance as today, but has since been modified and expanded, notably after being ravaged by fires caused by lightning strikes in 1699 and 1889. After the 1889 fire, the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

spire was added. The church is situated near Linnaeus Hammarby and was, in 1758–1778, the parish church of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

; however, Linnaeus received complaints for his tendency to leave before the service had ended. He would also on occasion send his dog, Pompe, in his place, who would also leave early.

Etymology

The origin of the name ''Danmark'' is unclear, but several theories have been proposed. The explanation most commonly accepted by modern name research is that the name consists of the prefix ''dan-'', derived from Old Norse ''dank'', meaning "wet" or "boggy", and the suffix ''-mark'' meaning "forest" or "forest's edge". ''Danmark'' would thus mean "the forest by the wetlands".

Olaus Magnus Olaus Magnus (October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic ecclesiastic. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in October 1490. Like his elder ...

offers another explanation in ''

A Description of the Northern Peoples ''Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus'' was a monumental work by Olaus Magnus on the Nordic countries, printed in Rome 1555. It was a work which long remained for the rest of Europe the authority on Swedish matters. Its popularity increase ...

'' (7:15), stating that the church "took its name from the homeland of the enemy /nowiki>Denmark.html" ;"title="Denmark.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Denmark">/nowiki>Denmark">Denmark.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Denmark">/nowiki>Denmark/nowiki>, as the mighty building was funded by loot taken from him, and thus stands as an eternal memorial for those who have fallen." A third theory postulates that the name translates as "wood of the Danes", suggesting it may have been a settlement for Danes. However, later research asserts that any connection to Denmark is unlikely.

The building

The church features

frescos Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster ...

by Johannes Rosenrod and Albertus Pictor. The

weathercock A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

is from the late 19th century and was named "weathercock of the year" in 1989. The choir windows were made in 1958 by Julia Lüning.

Gallery

File:Danmark kyrka nave01.jpg, Interior File:Danmark kyrka ceiling paintings02.jpg, Paintings by Albertus Pictor File:Danmark kyrka Church window01.jpg, Church window by the altar File:Danmark kyrka Crucifix.jpg, Crucifix File:U945 Upplands runinskrifter Danmarks kyrka.jpg, The runestone U 945

Literature

* ''Våra kyrkor'', p. 24, Klarkullens Förlag AB, Västervik, 1990,

References

External links

{{Churches in Uppland Churches in Uppsala County 14th-century churches in Sweden Church frescos in Sweden Churches in the Diocese of Uppsala Churches converted from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church of Sweden de:Danmark (Uppsala)