St. Luke's Church (

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

: Sankt Lukas Kirke) is a Church of Denmark church located in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. Completed in 1897 to the design of

Valdemar Koch Otto Valdemar Koch (20 October 1852 – 24 February 1902) was a Danish architect and local politician. He designed a number of churches in Copenhagen. Early life and education Valdemar Koch was born in the parish of Sønder Kirkeby on the isla ...

, who also built several other churches in Copenhagen around that time, it is the second oldest church in Frederiksberg.

History

By the late 19th century, the population of Frederiksberg parish had grown to about 60,000 inhabitants. In 1892, a temporary church was therefore consecrated in the former gym hall of a local folk high school to relieve the pressure on Frederiksberg Church and the young

Harald Ostenfeld Harald or Haraldr is the Old Norse form of the given name Harold. It may refer to: Medieval Kings of Denmark * Harald Bluetooth (935–985/986) Kings of Norway * Harald Fairhair (c. 850–c. 933) * Harald Greycloak (died 970) * Harald Hardrad ...

, later Bishop of Zealand, was instituted as its first pastor. At the same time it was decided to divide Frederiksberg into four parishes with St. Luke’s Church as the first of the three new churches to be built. The architect

was charged with the commission. He had already designed two churches in Copenhagen, Kapernaum Church in

Nørrebro Nørrebro (, ) is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is northwest of the city centre, beyond the location of the old Northern Gate (''Nørreport''), which, until dismantled in 1856, was near the current Nørreport station ...

and Zion's Church in Østerbro. Ground was broken on 26 April 1896 and the new church was consecrated on 29 May 1897 with Ostenfeld as pastor. The construction costs amounted to DKK 75–80,000. The church was expanded with a porch in 1964 which was replaced in 1995 by one designed by the firm Per Gents.

Architecture

St. Luke's is built in Neo-Romanesque style. It stands on a granite plinth, and is built in red brick with ornamental bands. The reliefs and sculptures by Thomas Bærentzen are in light-coloured stone. There is a flèche at the west end of the building.

Interior

The

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed interior opens into an arcade leading to the

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

at the eastern end. The rich interior decorations are partly made to Koch's own design and include "paradise flowers" which can be found in all of Koch’s churches in Copenhagen. Other decorations include a repetition of Joakim Skovgaard’s annunciation scene from Church of the Holy Ghost around the entrance doors, as well as a relief by Thomas Bærentzen entitled ''The Suffering Mankind''. On the walls above the windows there are fluttering angels and citations from the Gospel of Luke painted by Carl Budtz Møller in 1910.

Furnishings

* 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 ...

is painted by

Frans Schwartz Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis''. Given name * Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diplomat ...

and entitled ''Christ who reveals himself to his disciples''. * The altar table is a reconstruction from 1984 based on old oil paintings and photographs. * The crucifix to the right of the altarpiece is executed in bog oak by Johannes Kragh and is a donation from 1929. * The

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

is carved in granite from drawings by Valdemar Koch.

St. Luke's Church today

The church is a parish church within the Church of Denmark.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Luke's Church, Copenhagen Lutheran churches in Copenhagen 19th-century Church of Denmark churches Buildings and structures in Frederiksberg Municipality Churches completed in 1897 Churches in the Diocese of Copenhagen