Saint Nikolaj Church ( da, Sankt Nikolaj Kirke) is a church in Aarhus,

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 ...

. The church is situated in the

Indre by Indre By (lit. English, "Inner City"), also known as Copenhagen Center or K or Downtown Copenhagen, is an administrative district (''by'') in central Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. It covers an area of , has a population of 26,223, and a po ...

neighbourhood on the western edge of the

City Hall Park City Hall Park is a public park surrounding New York City Hall in the Civic Center of Manhattan. It was the town commons of the nascent city of New York. History 17th century David Provoost was an officer in the Dutch West India Compan ...

and was completed in 1893 from a design by Emanuel Edvard Christie Fleischer and Hjalmar Kjær in the

Neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style. Saint Nikolaj Church is today owned and operated by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in Denmark and home to the local Chaldean congregation in Aarhus. The church is 700 square meters and holds 28 benches which can seat up to 300 people.

History

The church originally belonged to a congregation under the

Catholic Apostolic Church The Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as the Irvingian Church, is a Christian denomination and Protestant sect which originated in Scotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States.Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in 1832. The Apostolic Church came to Denmark with Sir Georg Hewett in 1861; in 1879 the congregation in Aarhus was established, and in 1893 the church was completed by plans by Emanuel Edvard Christie Fleischer and Hjalmar Kjær. The first service was held on 23 April 1893. The congregation peaked in the 1940s with some 600 members, also operating a second church in Thunøgade street. The Apostolic belief system meant that priests could only be appointed by one of 12 apostles. The last apostle died in 1901 and no new priests were appointed, so in 1953 the last priest left St. Nikolaj Church. The congregation did not disappear, but activities in the church were thereafter led by regular laity. Over time the membership of the congregation diminished and in the late 2000s the church was used no more than half an hour per week. In December 2010 the church was given to the

, which renamed it to St. Nikolaj Church and today use it for the Chaldean congregation in Aarhus. The church was named St. Nikolaj for a number of historical reasons. The other Catholic church in Aarhus, Church of Our Lady, was originally named St. Nikolaj Church, the street running perpendicular to the church is Skt. Nicolaus Gade, and Saint Nicholas as a saint connects the eastern and western churches and is the patron saint of port cities.

Chaldean Church

The Chaldean congregation in Denmark is composed of some 2000 Catholics primarily from

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, and the Chaldean congregation in Aarhus is the largest in Denmark. Prior to 1991 most Chaldeans lived in northern Iraq, but

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

forcefully relocated most of them in an attempt to turn make areas majority Muslim. Today most Chaldeans lived in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

and

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

, but degradation in security since the early 2000s have forced many to flee, which has caused the congregation in Denmark and Aarhus to grow. In 2010 some 400 Chaldean families resided in Denmark.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Nicholas Church, Aarus Roman Catholic churches completed in 1893 Romanesque Revival church buildings in Denmark Roman Catholic churches in Aarhus Religious organizations established in 1893 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Denmark

History

Chaldean Church

See also

References