Tranbjerg Church is a church in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, situated in the suburb

Tranbjerg Tranbjerg J is a town in Aarhus in Denmark. "J" is for Jutland to distinguish this place from a similarly named place on Zealand, and is not used in daily parlance. History Tranbjerg was formerly a small rural village but is now a suburb of Aar ...

9 kilometers south-west of Aarhus city center on the old country road between Aarhus and

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 61,074 (1 January 2022) and the municipality's population is 94,443 (), making it the 8th largest city in De ...

. Tranbjerg Church is from the 1100s, erected as a typical Danish Romanesque village church. Later additions in the 15th century added a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

tower and porch. Tranbjerg Church is the only church in Tranbjerg pastorate and Parish with 7.414 members of the Church of Denmark living in Tranbjerg Parish on 1 January 2016. Tranbjerg Church is devoted to

St. Ursula Saint Ursula (Latin for 'little female bear', german: link=no, Heilige Ursula) is a legendary Romano-British Christian saint who died on 21 October 383. Her feast day in the pre-1970 General Roman Calendar is 21 October. There is little inform ...

and the 11.000 virgin handmaidens. Tranbjerg Church is a Green Church (''Grøn Kirke''). Green Churches is a network of Danish churches dedicated to implement and further an environmentally friendly operation and climate actions in relation to the current climate crisis. The network agenda was launched by the National Council of Churches in Denmark (NCCD) in 2011.

History

The church was originally a part of the

Catholic 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 ...

church but it was confiscated by Danish crown after the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. In 1687 the crown gave Tranbjerg Church to baron

Constantin Marselis Constantin Marselis, or Constantijn Marselis (28 November 1647 - 16 June 1699), was a nobleman of the wealthy Dutch Marselis family. Biography Constantin Marselis was born in Amsterdam as the younger son of Gabriel Marselis (1609–1673) an ...

as payment for debts incurred during the Swedish Wars. When Constantin Marselis died the church was inherited by his widow Elisbeth Charisius in 1699 who made it a part of the estate of the manor

Constantinsborg Constantinsborg is a manor in Aarhus Municipality, Denmark which has existed since at least 1400. It is situated on the southern shore of Årslev Engsø, a newly created nature reserve and shallow lake extension of Brabrand Lake, in Viby J 10&nbs ...

. In 1799 the church was sold on auction to the church parishioners. Tranbjerg Church is today a part of the Church of Denmark.

Architecture

The original part of the church, the chancel and nave, probably dates from the latter half of the 12th century and is constructed of split and rough granite boulders. Ashlar is used at the windows, doors and the corners of the building. Some time in the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

the tower and porch was added and the flat, wooden ceiling was replaced by a groin vault. The altar tablet from the 1400s feature a depiction of St. Ursula along with

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

, the

Jesus 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 ...

child and

John the Apostle John the Apostle ( grc, Ἰωάννης; la, Ioannes ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ;) or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee a ...

. The pulpit is from 1675-1700 and was renovated in 1998.

References

External links

* * Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tranbjerg Church {{DEFAULTSORT:Tranbjerg Church Lutheran churches in Aarhus 12th-century churches in Denmark Lutheran churches converted from Roman Catholicism Churches in the Diocese of Aarhus