St Martin's Church () is located in

Næstved Næstved () is a town in Næstved Municipality, the municipality of the same name, located in the southern part of the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand in Denmark. Næstved has several adult education centers, five Primary education, elemen ...

on the Danish island of

Sealand The Principality of Sealand () is a micronation on HM Fort Roughs (also known as Roughs Tower), an offshore platform in the North Sea. It is situated on Rough Sands, a sandbar located approximately from the coast of Suffolk and from the coa ...

. It is one of the city's medieval churches. Known from records since approximately 1280, it is believed to have been built and put into service around 1200. The building was constructed as the city's

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 ...

. It is dedicated to St

Martin of Tours Martin of Tours (; 316/3368 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He is the patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe, including France's Third French Republic, Third Republic. A native of Pannonia (present-day Hung ...

considered its patron saint. It is one of the five

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 ...

churches in Næstved; the other four are the St Peter's Church, St John's Church, Herlufsholm Church and Holsted Church. St Martin's Church and St Peter's Church are located on perpendicular streets, the former situated on Riddergade, while the latter is on Kobmagergade.

History

The church is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

structure built with bricks. The oldest parts of the church are from the 1220s. The tower was added in the 15th century but the baptismal chapel and the porch were completed as late as the 1850s.

Furnishings

The arches bear a portrait of St Martin. There are many frescoes of the period; one depicts him as a soldier sitting on his horse, while he cuts a piece of his officer cap and gives it to a beggar. The church's first organ, installed in 1587, was made by Hans Brebus (d. 1603), a Flemish organ builder who practiced in Denmark and Sweden."Fløjdøre i dansk orgelbygning"
. National Museum of Denmark. Retrieved 6 January 2012. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

(1667) of height is decorated with figures wearing grotesque masks or with mustaches, some of whom are stooping low) and is attributed to the

woodcarver Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculpture, ...

Abel Schrøder Abel Schrøder, also Abel Schrøder the Younger, (c. 1602–1676) was a Denmark, Danish woodcarver with a workshop in Næstved, then the centre for woodcarving in Zealand, Southern Zealand. He is remembered for his many Auricular style, auricular ...

(1602–1676) who was also the church's organist for forty-two years. Today's

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 ...

organ dates to 1975. The pulpit was built by Abel Schrøder's father.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St Martin's Church, Naestved Churches in Næstved Municipality 13th-century churches in Denmark Churches in the Diocese of Roskilde Lutheran churches converted from Roman Catholicism Buildings and structures completed in 1220 Churches completed in the 1220s Næstved