St. James's Church ( Danish: Sankt Jakobs Kirke) in the

Østerbro Østerbro () is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. It is located just north of the city centre, outside the old city gate Østerport which, after it was moved around 1700, used to be located close to present-day ...

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 ...

, was the first church to be built in the district. It was designed by

Ludvig Fenger Ludvig Peter Fenger (7 July 1833 – 9 March 1905) was a Danish architect. He was a proponent of the Historicist style, and from 1886 to 1904 he held the title of City Architect in Copenhagen. Among his works are several churches, the Centr ...

in a

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style and built between 1876 and 1878.

History

Completed in 1856, St. John's Church in

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 ...

was the first church to be built in Copenhagen outside the city's Bastioned Fortifications after it was decided to decommission them and allow the city to expand. Its first pastor, Rudolf Frimodt, launched a campaign for more new churches in fast-growing new neighbourhoods which, over the course of seven years, from 1874 to 1880, led to four new churches. St. James's was the second of these churches to be completed and the first church to be built in

. Its architect was

, who also designed St. Mathew's in Vesterbro which was completed just two years later. Construction of St. James's began in 1876 and the church was completed in 1878. The site was still relatively sparsely developed but among the buildings in the area was the

Brumleby Brumleby is an enclave of terraced houses in Copenhagen, Denmark, located between Øster Allé and Østerbrogade, just south of Parken Stadium and St. James' Church, Copenhagen, St. James' Church. Built for indigent workers by the Danish Medical A ...

terraces, Denmark's first example of social housing, which had been built between 1854 and 1872.

Architecture

The church is built to a

design with inspiration from

English architecture The architecture of England is the architecture of the historic Kingdom of England up to 1707, and of England since then, but is deemed to include buildings created under English influence or by English architects in other parts of the world, p ...

. It is constructed in red brick. A relief above the main entrance depicts Saint James with a

scallop shell Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of Marine (ocean), marine bivalve mollusc, molluscs in the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic Family (biology), family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also ...

, his emblem.

St. James's today

The church belongs to

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 ...

and remains the largest church in Østerbro. It lies a little recessed from

Østerbrogade Østerbrogade is the principal shopping street and thoroughfare in the Østerbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It extends from Lille Triangel at the north-eastern tip of The Lakes, passes Trianglen, and continues to Svanemøllen station fro ...

and is today located close to

Parken Parken, currently known as Parken - Connected by 3 for sponsorship reasons, and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from ...

and

Østerbro Stadium Østerbro Stadium is a combined football and athletics stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the home of the football clubs Boldklubben af 1893 and BK Skjold and it is also the home stadium of the athletics clubs Københavns Idræts Forening an ...

s. The church is open to visitors every day from 9—13.

References

External links

350 tour
- outside
tour
- inside {{DEFAULTSORT:Jamess Church, Copenhagen Churches completed in 1878 Churches in Østerbro Churches in the Diocese of Copenhagen Ludvig Fenger buildings Lutheran churches in Copenhagen 19th-century Church of Denmark churches 1870s churches in Denmark

History

Architecture

St. James's today

See also

References

External links