The Holy Cross Church ( Danish: Hellig Kors Kirke) is a

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church ( , or unofficially ; ), sometimes called the Church of Denmark, is the established, state-supported church in Denmark. The supreme secular authority of the church is composed of ...

parish church located at the corner of Kapelvej (No. 38) and Hans Tavsens Gade in the

Nørrebro Nørrebro (, ) is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen Municipality, 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 N ...

district 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 ...

. The church was built in 1887–1890 to a

National Romantic Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

design by

Hermann Baagøe Storck Hermann Baagøe Storck (18 February 1839 – 4 December 1922) was a Denmark, Danish architect and heraldry, heraldist. As an architect, he is mainly known for the restoration of historic buildings. Among his own designs, his building for the ...

History

In 1886, Københavns Præstekonvent decided to build a new church in the Rantzausgade/ Kapelvej neighbourhood of Nørrebro. Further work with realizing the project was placed in the hands of a commission headed by provost Conrad Rothe and mayor Hans Hansen. The city donated a corner of the old cholera cemetery adjacent to

Assistens Cemetery An Assistens Cemetery () is a cemetery that functions as an expansion of another, older cemetery often in relation to a city church. Already by the end of the 17th century, Danish authorities deemed that the conditions for inner-city cemeteries we ...

for the project. Funding for construction of the church building came partly from the city and partly from fund-raising among private citizens. One of the largest contributors was coffee wholesaler Gamél but also many local craftsmen made donations. The name was selected in 1887 and was inspired by the location at the end of the Korsgade (Cross Street), whose name had in turn been selected because it crossed

Blågårdsgade Blågårdsgade is a mostly pedestrianized street in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs from Nørrebrogade in the northeast to Åboulevard in the southwest and passes the square Blågårds Plads. The street is known for its ma ...

. The architect

(1839-1922) was charged with designing the church. He presented his first design proposal to the committee in 1887 and the final design was approved in 1888. The most significant change was the windows. The building was constructed by master mason Christian Wilhelm Rask Licht's company C. Licht. The church was inaugurated on 19 January 1890 in the presence of members of the royal family. Holy Cross Parish was at the same time disjoined from St. John'sm Parish, by then, had reached 70,000 residents.

Architecture

The church is built in red brick in the

style.

Today

Holy Cross Church is as of 1999 located in Blågård Parish. Blågård Church has later been decommissioned and is now used as a community centre.

Cultural references

Holy Cross Church was used as a filming location in the 1994 thriller ''

Nattevagten ''Nightwatch'' () is a 1994 Danish Horror film, horror Thriller (genre), thriller film directed and written by Danish Film director, director Ole Bornedal. The film involves Martin (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) who gets a student job as Security guard, ...

'' (1994).

References

External links

Official website
{{Nørrebro 1890 establishments in Denmark Churches completed in 1890 Churches in Nørrebro Churches in the Diocese of Copenhagen Lutheran churches in Copenhagen National Romantic architecture in Copenhagen 1890s churches in Denmark