Blue and Gold

10/11/2018•architecture, Denmark, religion

Starry, Starry Night

Ceiling of Christian IV’s chapel, Roskilde Cathedral, Roskilde, Denmark

Roskilde Cathedral is the burial site of Denmark’s kings and Queens. Work on the nave and central structure of the church dates to the 13th century. Over time, as space for burials ran out, chapels were added to the sides of the cathedral. Construction of King Christian IV’s Dutch Renaissance style burial chapel began in 1641 and was completed in 1641. The interior decoration, however, was not added until the 19th century. The starry vaulted ceiling and allegorical paintings were executed by Heirich Eddelien between 1845 and 1852.

Join K’lee & Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge: The Blues and the Golds

Roskilde Cathedral

09/15/2018•architecture, Denmark, religion

The resting place of Denmark’s kings and queens

I took a short train ride to Roskilde today to visit the Roskilde Cahedral. It is famous because it is the first Gothic church built from brick and it is the burial site of Denmark’s kings and queens.

The original brick church was begun in the 1170s, shortly after brick making was introduced. Several earlier churches had been built on the site.

Until the Reformation in 1563, the cathedral was a Catholic church. It is now the Church of Denmark, which is Lutheran. Most of the frescoes and ornamentation from before 1563 was destroyed or covered.

Some earlier decoration still exists in a few side chapels, which hold sarcophagi and funerary monuments. Ceiling from the Chapel of the Magi, mid 15th-century.

I was amused by the nude woman on the pulpit staircase. Even for the early 17th-century, this seems very risque for Lutherans. Maybe it is Eve, or Salome.

The sarcophagus of Queen Margrete I, dated 1423.

The glass sarcophagus in which the current queen, Margrethe II, will be buried is under this covering. Her husband Prince Henrik, who died last year, refused to be buried in Roskilde because he had never been made king.

I have always admired Protestant churches for something you don’t find in many Gothic Catholic churches: central heating.

Christopher Columbus Burial Site

04/08/2017•art, religion, Travel

Christopher Columbus at Rest

I was amazed at the beautiful burial memorial to Columbus in the Cathedral in Seville. His bones are in the coffin carried by four elegant figures representing Spain. In schools in the US, Columbus is generally tied to Italy, not Spain. Yet he is honored throughout Spain, almost as a native son.