Cathedral
Roskilde Cathedral
Roskilde Cathedral (Danish: Roskilde Domkirke), in the city of Roskilde on the Island of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark, was the first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick and its construction encouraged the spread of this Brick Gothic style throughout Northern Europe. It was built during the 12th and 13th centuries, and incorporates both Gothic and Romanesque architectural features in its design. It was the only cathedral in Zealand until the 20th century. The cathedral's twin spires dominate the skyline of the town.
cathedral door
opened only for the use of Royalty
Roskilde Cathedral has been the main burial site for Danish monarchs since the 15th century. As such, it has been significantly extended and altered over time as individual rulers have added multiple burial chapels. Following the Reformation in 1536, the Bishop's residence was moved to Copenhagen, and he from then on held the title Bishop of Zealand. Royal coronations normally took place in Copenhagen's Church of Our Lady or the chapel of Frederiksborg Palace.
It is a major tourist attraction, bringing in over 125,000 visitors annually.
Since 1995 the cathedral has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Since 1987, the cathedral has been the home of one of Denmark's leading boys'
choirs, the Roskilde Cathedral Boys' Choir. The choir, soon celebrating its 20th
birthday, is a key resource in the parish youth work. All choristers go to
normal school but meet up 2-3 times a week to rehearse. Every second year the
choir travels abroad; destinations being as different as New Zealand,
Scandinavia, England, Greenland, France and Canada.
Roskilde was named as the new capital of Denmark by King Harald Bluetooth about
the year 960. A small timber church was built there and dedicated to the Holy
Trinity. King Harald was buried inside the little church at Roskilde, but no
trace of it has ever been located.
pulpit
About 991 Roskilde was made the seat of the Bishop of Roskilde under the supervision of the Archbishop of Hamburg, who had the responsibility for converting the pagan kingdoms of Scandinavia. The bishop was responsible for the island of Zealand, southern Sweden (Scania), and the islands to the south including Rügen off the coast of northern Germany. Bishop Svend Nordmand (1076-1088) with donations from King Canute's sister, Estrid, oversaw the building of the first stone cathedral which was completed in 1080. The church was built in Romanesque style with half-rounded interior arches to support the flat interior ceiling. The main church had a long nave and two side aisles. Two towers flanked the west front entrance. A three-sided stone monastery was constructed adjoining the cathedral on the north side for the monks and others associated with the cathedral. Bishop Svend succeeded in bringing an important relic, the skull of St. Lucius, an early pope (253-255), who became the patron saint of the cathedral. The skull is now located in the Catholic Cathedral of St Ansgar in Århus.
stairway to the pulpit
Perhaps the most famous of Roskilde's bishops was Absalon, the warrior bishop, who founded Copenhagen which he gave to the See of Roskilde. Absalon later became the Archbishop of Lund. He was responsible for the construction of Our Lady Church in Copenhagen which in the twentieth century superseded Roskilde as Denmark's National Cathedral.
King Valdemar deposited the relics of St. Canute Lavard in St Luke's on 25 June
1170, the same day as King Canute VI was crowned in Roskilde Cathedral, the only
Danish coronation held at Roskilde. Absalon's successor Peder Sunesen began an
ambitious expansion of the cathedral in 1200 modeled on the cathedral at Tournai,
Belgium where he had been an abbot under his mentor, Bishop Stephen of Tournai.
Without any good stone to work with, the cathedral was built with a new
material, over-sized red bricks. Along with Sorø Abbey the cathedral served as a
prototype for the many monasteries, churches, cathedrals and public buildings
constructed in red brick all over Scandinavia and northern Germany. It has been
estimated that the cathedral construction used more than 3,000,000 bricks. The
new cathedral was twice the height of the old one and built in the Gothic style
with pointed arches and a vaulted ceiling which added height to the building. A
transept was added giving the church a cruciform shape, and a rounded apse was
added onto the choir. Two towers flanked the west front doors. The choir was
divided from the nave for services associated with the monastery. The doorway
between the nave and the altar was only opened on the great feast days of the
liturgical calendar. On the north side four chapels were built for Saint
Birgitte, St Christofer, and St. Andrew.
Bishop Jacob Erlandsen built a school at the cathedral for the education of poor
children in 1249. In 1310 a Lady Chapel was added onto the cathedral in the
location of the present mausoleum which houses the tombs of many of Denmark's
recent royal family. Bishop Peder Jensen Lodehat forcibly removed the body of
Queen Margrethe I from Sorø Abbey in 1314 and interred her with great pomp
inside the cathedral.
ceiling of the Chapel of the Three Kings
In 1439 work began on the interior of the cathedral, proceeding as far as the choir. But on 14 May 1443 a terrible fire swept through the city and burned the cathedral. It was damaged so severely that it wasn't rededicated until 1464, built in the footprint of the earlier building. King Christian I paid for the addition of a new Chapel of the Three Kings as part of the overall reconstruction. Christian I and his wife Dorothea of Brandeburg are buried in the chapel, after Margrethe I, the oldest royal burials. The chapel also contains an unusual stone pillar called the "King's Column". Many members of the Danish royal family and important royal visitors have had their heights recorded on the stone. Beside Danish royals, Edward the VII of England, Peter the Great of Russia, and King Chulalongkorn of Thailand were measured on the column.
St Luke's two west front towers were reconstructed with short spires much like
those of the medieval church. The famous St George clock was added about 1500
and most visitors to the cathedral pause to watch St George attack the dragon on
the hour. Two other characters also move and strike bells on the quarter and
half hours. In 1511 St Andrew's chapel and St Birgitta's chapel were painted
with scenes from the lives of the saints.
All through the cathedral's history people were buried inside the cathedral.
Many were buried under the floor in brick tombs and a carved grave stone placed
over the top. Wealthy individuals "lease" mausoleum space in the chapels that
lines the aisles and many of them were decorated with wood or stone memorials
that literally began to line all available wall space in the interior of the
cathedral.
The last Catholic bishops of Roskilde worked hard to stop the spread of Luther's
ideas from being spread through the diocese, but they were unsuccessful. By 1536
both the king and the majority of Danes forced the monasteries, abbeys, church
schools, and cathedral to give up traditional Catholic beliefs and adhere to
Lutheran doctrine and practice. Joachim Rønnow, the last Catholic bishop of
Roskilde, was imprisoned in 1536 and remained in Copehagen Castle until his
death in 1544. In 1538 Denmark's "Luther", Hans Tausen, came to the cathedral to
put an end to the Catholic remnants in the services and operation of the
cathedral. By 1540 all of the cathedral properties were confiscated by the king.
the crypt
The cathedral was the last bastion of Catholicism in Sjaelland, but in 1536 the Lutheran "superintendent" of Zealand moved to Copenhagen, although Roskilde was still officially the cathedral. The decline of Roskilde was precipitous, all the monasteries, church schools, chapter houses, were closed and the property snapped up by the crown or local noble families. The cathedral's gigantic crucifix and other Catholic symbols were taken down or destroyed. Because the church was a royal resting place, the cathedral was spared the savage looting of churches that accompanied the Reformation in other parts of the country. Superintendents quickly were titled bishops again and the Bishop of Zealand continued to live and work from Copenhagen until Zealand Diocese was split from Copenhagen in the 1920s.
In 1548 the widow of Mayor Van Seygens and Sidsel Lerbæk were condemned and
burned as witches on the cathedral square. In 1554 a new organ built by Herman
Raphaelis was donated to the cathedral for services. It was enlarged in 1600 and
1833 and restored once again in 1988. St Luke's was made a parish church for
central Roskilde. In 1583 the last known nun died, ending five hundred years of
monastery life around the cathedral.
The wonderful 1560 three-sided altar piece was carved in Antwerp and is one of
the cathedral's great treasures. The pulpit was a gift of King Christian IV in
1610. The artist who worked in sandstone, marble and alabaster was the
well-known sculptor Hans Brockman. In 1614 St Christofer's and St Andrews
Chapels were torn down to permit the building of Christian IV's chapel.
In 1635-6 the two west towers were raised and given the now familiar tall thin
spires clad in copper. The towers house six bells. The oldest surviving bell was
cast in 1508 by Hans Jensen. Johannes Fastenőwe cast two bells in 1511 paid for
by Bishop Johan Ravensberg. The largest bell, "Stormklokken", hangs in the north
tower. A. Burchado cast a bell in 1594 that hangs with the Jensen and smaller
Fastenőwe bell in the south tower.
A magnificent Royal Door on the west front was carved by Geert Barchmann. The
new portal was used only on state occasions; visitors enter by the south door.
The beautiful entrance was later moved to Holmen Church in Copenhagen. In 1645
Zealand's bishop ordered the recording of all baptism, marriages, and deaths
throughout Zealand and many of Denmark's earliest vital records exist as a
result.
In the Danish-Swedish Wars of the 1650s King Gustav Vasa of Sweden's army
invaded and occupied parts of Denmark including Roskilde. Queen Margrethe's
restored sarcophagus is still on display at Roskilde.
In 1672 Oluf Mortensen's "weapons porch" attached to the cathedral was torn
down.
In 1968 the Margrethe Spire over the crossing was destroyed by fire, and its two
bells, one from 1200 and one from 1613 were damaged beyond repair. Two new bells
were cast by the Petit and Fritsen Company and hung in 1970.
Since 1987, the cathedral has been the home of one of Denmark's leading boys'
choirs, the Roskilde Cathedral Boys' Choir. The choir, soon celebrating its 20th
birthday, is a key resource in the parish youth work. All choristers go to
normal school but meet 2-3 times a week to rehearse. Every second year the choir
travels abroad; with destinations as different as New Zealand, Scandinavia,
England, Greenland, France and Canada.
Later Royalty are buried in the Glücksborgian Chapel.
Text from Wikipedia
compact organ
choir chairs
Glücksborgian Chapel
Photos of the Glücksborgian Chapel
