St. Peter's Church () is a
Romanesque parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
some 6 km east of
Aakirkeby
Aakirkeby or Åkirkeby is a town in Denmark with a population of 2,117 (1 January 2024). It is the third largest town on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. It was the main town of the now abolished Aakirkeby Municipality.
The town is si ...
on the Danish island of
Bornholm
Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland.
Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...
. It is thought to be the oldest church on the island.
History
The church is thought to be the oldest on Bornholm, dating from the 10th or the 11th century. The earliest written reference was in 1429. There are indications that the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
is the oldest part of the building and that it probably stood alone for a period.
[Otto Norn, C. G. Schultz, Erik Skov, "S. Peders Kirke"](_blank)
: Bornholms Nørre Herred, Danmarks Kirker, Bornholm, Nationalmuseet, Gad, 1954, pp. 556–572.
Architecture
The building consists of a Romanesque nave, chancel and
apse
In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...
, all in local limestone. The unimpressive fieldstone tower at the western end of the nave was probably added in the late 16th century although it is first mentioned in 1624. The porch on the south side was completed in 1864, doubtless on the site of an earlier Romanesque structure. There are traces of earlier windows in the apse and chancel although they have now been bricked up. The nave originally had two windows on either side but that at the northwestern end is the only one which still exists.
Furnishings
Apart from the
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design.
For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
which was made in
Gotland
Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...
in the late Romanesque period (c. 1575), the furnishings are relatively recent. The altar was rebricked in 1854 and decorated with an altarpiece from 1876 with painting by C. Christian Andersen of ''Christ and the Canaanite Woman''. The simple pulpit is the work of Anders Jensen (1845). The organ from 1968 was built by
Frobenius Frobenius is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Ferdinand Georg Frobenius (1849–1917), mathematician
** Frobenius algebra
** Frobenius endomorphism
** Frobenius inner product
** Frobenius norm
** Frobenius method
** Frobenius g ...
.
, ''Bornholmerguiden.dk''. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter's Church Bornholm
Churches in Bornholm
Romanesque architecture in Denmark
Lutheran churches converted from Roman Catholicism