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Location of the Cathedral
Photos: Henrik Wichmann et al.

The Cathedral on the ridge in the very heart of Roskilde is an extremely prominent feature in the town and in the local landscape. There has been a church on this spot for more than a thousand years. In 1995, the Cathedral was added to UNESCO's list of the world's most precious cultural assets. It is one of the earliest examples of French-inspired, Gothic brick architecture, and the whole site exhibits a beautifully, harmonious unity.

A little of Roskilde's pre-Reformation greatness was restored when the Cathedral was designated as the royal burial place. But the Cathedral has never hosted a coronation or royal wedding, and the actual burial ceremonies are also held elsewhere. Roskilde Cathedral became a mausoleum for the Danish royal family and reaped the benefits of the royal favour that accompanied this status. Magnificent sepulchres were built in royal chapels, and the building was properly maintained in accordance with its elevated status. Extensions and royal monuments have been added at regular intervals, turning the Cathedral into a magnificent record of the chronology and changing styles of both art and architecture.

Absalon's Arch

THE FIRST CHURCHES

A wooden church
According to the historian Adam of Bremen, the first church on the site was built by Harold Bluetooth, who died around 985 and was "buried in the town of Roskilde, in the church that he himself had built in honour of the Holy Trinity".
No trace of Harold's church has ever been found.

The travertine church
At some point in the 11th century, King Canute's sister Estrid replaced the wooden church with a stone one.
A new church, built by Svend Nordmand (bishop 1074-88), was consecrated around 1080.

This church had a three-nave basilica and high towers at the western end. The Roskilde Chronicle said it was decorated with a large crown, marble columns and all kinds of ornamentation. On the north side of the church, there was a three-winged building known as the Stone Monastery, where the priests lived in an almost monastic community. Like earlier churches in the town, the church and "monastery" were made of travertine, a porous rock also known as tufa, which is found in large quantities in the Roskilde area.

Model of Wooden Church of 980.

The Travertine church of 1100.
Model in the Cathedral Museum.

THE BRICK CHURCH IS BUILT

The art of brick firing was introduced into Denmark in the middle of the 12th century. The first big brick churches were Sorø Abbey and Saint Bendt's Church in Ringsted. Roskilde Cathedral was rebuilt soon afterwards. Absalon, bishop of Zealand for about two decades at the time, commissioned the project. His new building started with the eastern end. It was a major project: two-storeys high, with a gallery behind the chancel, a tower on each side of the nave and a broad transept.

The Cathedral was completed during the 13th century. The main body of the building was probably completed around 1280. About three million bricks were used.

The Cathedral of 1282.
Model in the Cathedral Museum

THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH

Under Catholicism, the Cathedral reverberated with perpetual worship and prayers for salvation. The chancel was the very heart of the Cathedral. It was where the canons celebrated mass and said prayers at the so-called canonical hours, from early morning to late evening. The chancel was a kind of priests' church within the church. It was separated from the rest of the interior by walls and gratings. The chancel was divided into three sections: the high chancel, the canon's chancel and the lectorium.

The Choir Stalls
The canons sat in the choir stalls, which in those days formed a U-shape around Queen Margrete's sarcophagus.

The long text frieze above the seats explains that Bishop Jens Andersen Lodehat paid for them in 1420 and that he did so in honour of the Trinity and of Saint Lucius and in memory of Bishop Peder Jensen Lodehat and Queen Margrete.

The reliefs above the stalls start with Creation and end with Judgement Day. The illustrations on the south side are from the Old Testament, while those on the north side are from the New Testament.

There are small ledges projecting from the underside of the hinged seats in the choir stalls. They provided some degree of support for the canons, when they had to stand up during the long services. They were known as 'misericords' from the Latin word for compassion.

Reconstruction
of the monumental crucifix

The Stalls

The Ascension of Christ
from the reliefs above the Stalls

The actual interior of the Cathedral was too small for all the specially dedicated altars. Those who could afford it and really wanted to guarantee themselves a place in Heaven did not make do with an altar. They financed a chapel dedicated to a saint, including an altar for the saint. The benefactor would be buried in front of it and the altar priest would celebrate mass and pray for the salvation of his or her soul.

During the Middle Ages, a number of chapels were built on to or inside the Cathedral. After the Middle Ages, some of them were demolished and others were bought by nobles and converted into tombs.

On the north side there were four chapels dedicated to saints. The two western ones were dedicated to Saint Birgitte and Saint Andrew. The two eastern ones were demolished in 1612 to make way for Christian IV's sepulchre.

The first chapel dedicated to a saint in the church was the Chapel of Our Lady, facing south. It was built in 1310, but demolished in 1772 to make way for Frederik V's chapel. To the west of this is the Cathedral's first royal sepulchre and chapel dedicated to a saint, the Chapel of the Magi or Christian I's Chapel. It was built in 1462 by Christian I and Queen Dorothea.

In 1511, frescoes were painted inside Saint Birgitte's and Saint Andrew's Chapels to the north. The upper section of the arch in Saint Birgitte's Chapel was painted with foliage surrounding the four Church Fathers: Augustine, Hieronymus, Gregory and Ambrosius. Further down are a number of saints, including Saint Birgitta of Vadstena and the patron saint of the cathedral, Pope Lucius, astride a dragon. Saint Andrew's Chapel contains a large illustration of the beheading of John the Baptist.

TOMBS

At some time in the early Middle Ages, people started being buried inside churches and there are hundreds of graves under the cathedral floor. A memorial stone set in the wall near your tomb was another way of ensuring your posthumous reputation.

Crypts
As a rule, coffins were buried in the ground or interred in brick tombs under the church floor. But particularly affluent people built burial vaults, in which their coffins were laid to rest. These crypts were installed in several of the porches and old chapels dedicated to saints. Some were closed with gratings so you can look down into them; others are completely bricked up.

Tutivillus, a small devil,
in Saint Birgitte's Chapel

The Crypt of Juul the Just

The late 15th century clock with the mechanical figures is unique in Denmark. To the left is the knight, Saint George. According to legend, he saved a city in Asia Minor from serious peril. A dragon had the city in its thrall and refused to spare it unless it was fed with a virgin every year. Once, when it was the turn of the King's daughter to be the next victim, Saint George arrived on horseback and slew the dragon. Being a true saint, he would not accept the princess and half the kingdom as his reward - he had to move on and keep fighting evil elsewhere in the world.

Bells
Altogether there are five bells in the Cathedral's towers and spires. The two most recent are in the Margrete spire and were cast in the Netherlands in 1970. The two bells they replaced, one from around 1200 and the other from 1613, melted when the spire was burned down in 1968.

The large number of bells is a relic from the Catholic period when the bells in Margrete's Spire were rung to herald the canons' prayers in the chancel at the appointed hours, etc.

The Clock

The Margrete Spire

The Reformation in Denmark took place in 1536. The Danish Church had become estranged from Rome and the new Protestant bishops were not ordained by the Pope, but by Luther's close collaborator, Johannes Bugenhagen. The King was now the head of the Danish Church.

The Altarpiece
The current, three-winged altarpiece was made in Antwerp around 1560. Before that time, the wings were not usually opened, so the congregation could only see the reliefs depicting Jesus' humanity. The magnificent illustrations depicting the events of Easter week, Christ's agony, his death and his childhood were only opened on major festive occasions. Even today, you have to go behind the altarpiece to see them.

The Altarpiece

THE EARLY ROYAL TOMBS

Roskilde Cathedral is where the Danish royal family buries its dead - though it is only since the Reformation in 1536 that all the kings have found their final resting place here. But the Cathedral also contains several important medieval royal graves.

Margrete 1 (1353-1412)
Margrete was buried at Sorø Abbey in 1412, but her remains were transferred to Roskilde the following year.
At some point, perhaps in the 1650s, during the Dano-Swedish Wars, her sarcophagus was damaged and in the late 18th century all the small figures and architectural decorations were removed. The Queen's figure was all that was left on the black tomb. All the decorations were restored between 1862 and 1912. Some of the original figures are on display in the Cathedral Museum.

The homespun banner and the whetstone sent to the great Queen as an insult by the Swedish king Albrecht of Mecklenburg were hung beside her grave, and there was a cupboard in the north-western pier in which Margrete's "Golden Gown" was stored. During the Dano-Swedish Wars, these three items were removed by the Swedish king, who hoped - in vain, as it turned out - to become the next great Scandinavian ruler. Margrete's "relics" were removed to Uppsala Cathedral, where they are now on display in the museum. A copy of the magnificent dress is on display in Roskilde Cathedral Museum.

Duke Christopher
In the chancel, just behind Margrete, there is a monument to her brother who died in 1363, eight years before his father Waldemar Atterdag. The small knight and coats-of-arms are made of alabaster; the coloured stone is now just glass. The figure was kept in several pieces in an old wooden chest until 1878, when it was re-assembled in its current location.

A copy of Queen Margrete I's Golden Gown
can be seen in the Museum

Duke Christopher

This intercession on behalf of the royal family was reinforced by the frescoes that decorated the chapel. The walls feature saints who intercede on behalf of mortals. The arches represent the heavenly sphere, featuring illustrations of the death of Christ, Judgement Day and angels playing the lute, harp and horn. The heavenly sphere is thrown into relief by a very mortal jester. The whole chapel was designed as a sepulchre, so there is no actual monument to the royal couple.

ROYAL TOMBS AFTER THE REFORMATION

Christian I's Chapel
Christian I probably envisaged his sepulchre as the final resting place of the future Oldenburg kings. But things were not to turn out that way. His son, King Hans, and grandson, Christian II, were buried in Odense and Hans' brother, Frederik I, was laid to rest in Schleswig Cathedral.

After the Reformation, the kings were returned to Roskilde and have - despite occasional plans to the contrary - remained there ever since. The most magnificent sepulchres are probably those of Christian III and Frederik II. They were both built by Dutch artists in accordance with Renaissance tastes, like small antique temples decorated with ornamentation inspired by ancient Rome. They are guarded by halberdiers and small boys, known as putti, sit on the roof, their torches pointing downwards in symbol of death. The female figures represent Christian virtues. The elephant on the top of Frederik II's sepulchre is a reference to the Order of the Elephant and the six reliefs at the bottom depict scenes from the wars that the king fought against Sweden.

Christian IV's Chapel is the first actual post-Reformation royal sepulchre and seems almost to compete with the one containing his great-great-grandfather Christian I. While the latter is two storeys high, has four arches and is supported at the top and bottom by a central column, Christian IV's consists of a huge sphere covered by a single arch with the largest span of its day in Denmark.

Outside, on the corbel steps of the north gable, there are seven female figures symbolising the Christian virtues: Justice, Charity, Faith, Fortitude, Hope, Temperance and Prudence, and four putti (small boys), wielding symbols of death: a skull, scythe, hourglass and torches, all pointing downwards. The inscribed dates acknowledge various restorations.

Inside the chapel, only the two fantastic gratings stem from the original decoration. The monograms of the King and Queen can be seen among the intricate decoration, surrounded by strange and fabulous creatures. Legend would have it that they were designed by the Devil himself, but the mortal craftsman's signature is engraved at the bottom on the wings of the entrance door: "Caspar Fincke bin ich genannt, dieser Arbeit binn ich bekannt" ("Caspar Fincke is my name, to this work I owe my fame"). Christian IV's master smith produced other famous gratings, including the one at the top of the Round Tower in Copenhagen.

It may come as a surprise that a king of Christian IV's stature does not have a far more magnificent sepulchre. He used to have. It burned down the year before his death while in storage in Copenhagen. The coffins now on display in the chapel all come from the burial vault underneath. They were not brought up until 1866, when a major programme to re-decorate the chapel was completed. The blue starry arch and the series featuring prominent figures from the reign of Christian IV, like the astronomer Tycho Brahe, were added in the middle of the 19th century. The decoration was completed in 1866 with the addition of two major scenes from the life of Christian IV.

Christian IV's Chapel, Interior

The chancel was prepared for use as a royal burial place in Christian V's day. In 1690, the King ordered the chancel cleared and opened. It was screened off from the rest of the church by a grating behind which Christian V and Frederik IV were laid to rest alongside their queens in magnificent marble sarcophagi featuring portraits of the deceased. The design of the royal couples' sarcophagi is identical, as befitted absolute monarchs, although the reliefs on the sides are different. Important events are depicted on the sides of the kings' sarcophagi: the Scanian War on Christian V's and the founding of the Rytterskoler (schools for the children of peasants who served in a royal horse regiment) on Frederik IV's. The reliefs on the queens' sarcophagi are of symbols of a wholesome Christian life.

Detail from Queen Louise's
marble sarcophagus

Frederik IV's second queen, Anne Sophie, daughter of Chancellor Conrad Reventlow, was not buried at the King's side. As a young woman she was kidnapped from the Clausholm estate and married to Frederik IV morganatically. Shortly after Queen Louise's death, the couple were married properly. But Christian VI would not allow his stepmother to be buried in the chancel. Instead, she and three of the royal couple's children were laid to rest in the northern tower chapel.

Frederik V's chapel is one of the most distinguished examples of neo-classicism in Denmark. The architect, C.F.Harsdorff, drew his inspiration from Paris and Rome, and the classical element is reflected in the sepulchres, including the Roman emperor's column with a portrait medallion and urns in Frederik V's colossal monument. The absolute monarchs were considered God's representatives on Earth and were deified on their death, just like the Roman emperors. The two grieving women at the foot of the sepulchre are Denmark and Norway.

The twelve sepulchres in the chapel give a clear picture of a century of changing styles, from Christian VI in the 1760s to Frederik VII in 1863. The building was originally intended to house five marble sarcophagi, but for reasons of economy and changing tastes, other designs gained in popularity. Sophie Magdalene's tomb is a simple, fabric-covered coffin, while Juliane Marie and Christian VII were buried in exquisite 'Empire' coffins.

Two royal couples were not laid to rest here: after the fall of Struensee, Christian VII's queen, Caroline Mathilde, was banished to Celle in Germany, where she is buried, and Frederik VII's wife, countess Danner, is buried in Jægerspris. In the 1970s, when the coffins were arranged symmetrically, as they are now, Christian VIII's sister, countess Louise of Hessen-Kassel's coffin was placed at Frederik VII's side.

Sophie Magdalene's coffin

The Glucksborger Chapel and Frederik IX's Tomb date from the 20th century

The new dynasty, which started with the coronation of Christian IX in 1863, received its own sepulchre on the north side of the church in 1924. The Byzantine-inspired building has three double sarcophagi containing the first three royal couples from the house of Glucksborger.

Frederik IX's coffin also stood here between the two large iron ties until 1985, when the new royal tomb came into use. At the request of the royal family, the tomb is outside the Cathedral. The base of the open brick octagon consists of stone kerbing and plants from the North Atlantic parts of the kingdom.

Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid's 
burial place outside the Cathedral

The King's Column
In the Chapel of the Magi, there are a series of marks on the middle column in Chapel of the Magi. They indicate the height of royal visitors to the cathedral over the years.

The base of the column is from the 12th century and features a hand-hewn Romanesque palmette frieze. The coats-of-arms of Christian I, Queen Dorothea and Bishop Oluf Mortensen, who consecrated the chapel in 1464, have been painted on the capital.

Height markings on the King's Column:

Christian I: 219.5 metres
Peter the Great of Russia: 208.4
Christian X: 199.4
Prince George of Greece: 195.6
Prince Axel: 193.6
Frederik IX: 192.5
Heir Presumptive Knud: 192.2
The Duke of Gloucester: 188.6
Ex-King Michael of Romania: 187.9
Alexander III of Russia: 187.3
Prince Henrik: 187
Christian IX: 184
Prince Waldemar: 182.6
Crown Princess Margrethe: 182
Archduke Otto of Habsburg: 181.5
George I of Greece: 180.3
Frederik VIII: 178.9
Frederik VII: 176.9
Duke Edward Albert of Windsor: 173.1
Frederik VI: 170.9
Chulalongkorn of Thailand: 165.4
Christian VII: 164.11

The Kings' Column

The Great Hall in the Chapel of the Magi has housed the Cathedral Museum since 1995.
It contains illustrations, objects and models illustrating a thousand years of Cathedral history from the early Middle Ages to the present day.
It also contains an exquisite copy of Queen Margrete I's Golden Gown woven in silk and gold.

Conducted tours to the Cathedral's Museum
1/9 to 31/3		Tuesday-Friday Saturday Sundays and holy days		12.00 noon and 1.00 pm 12.00 noon 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm
1/4 to 14/6		Monday-Friday Saturday Sundays and holy days		11.00 am, 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm 10.00 am 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm
15/6 to 31/8		Monday-Friday Saturday Sundays and holy days		Every half hour from 11.05 am ... 2.35 pm Every half hour from 9.05 am ... 11.35 am Every half hour from 1.05 pm ... 3.35 pm