Frederiksberg Church ( Danish: Frederiksberg Kirke) is the oldest church building in the

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

district of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Completed in 1734, it is built to an unusual octagonal design in

Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires includin ...

. It is situated at Frederiksberg Runddel in front of the main entrance to Frederiksberg Gardens, on the corner of

Frederiksberg Allé Frederiksberg Allé is a tree-lined avenue which runs through the southernmost part of the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It connects Vesterbrogade at Værnedamsvej to Frederiksberg Runddel in front of the main entrance to Freder ...

and Pile Allé,

History

Earlier churches

Frederiksberg was founded when King Christian III transferred 20 Dutch families from

Amager Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...

to the area, which became known as ''Ny Hollænderbyen'' ("New Dutch Town"), or Ny Amager ("New Dutch Town). The residents of this community constructed a small wooden church in 1653 across the street from the present Frederiksberg Church, roughly where the Storm P. Museum stands today. It was burned down by Swedish troops in 1658 during the Assault on Copenhagen in the

Second Northern War The Second Northern War (1655–60), (also First or Little Northern War) was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1655–60), the Tsardom of Russia ( 1656–58), Brandenburg-Prussia (1657–60), the ...

. After the war, the Dutch community returned to the area but, struck with deep poverty, a new church was not completed until 1681. After the turn of the century, the area changed dramatically when King Frederick IV built Frederiksberg Palace on a nearby hilltop. The Dutch farmers were forced away from the area which became a fashionable summer destination, from 1710 known as

The new church

In 1732 it was finally decided to build a new church. The King contributed with 2000 rigsdaler and a piece of land to build it on, and his sister, Princess Sophie Hedevig, donated her entire income from

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

for the year of 1732. The architect Felix Dusart was charged with the design of the new church. He had come to Denmark from the Netherlands after the

Copenhagen Fire of 1728 The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen, Denmark. It began on the evening of 20 October 1728 and continued to burn until the morning of 23 October. It destroyed approximately 28% of the city (measured by cou ...

to work on the rebuilding of the city and mainly worked for

Philip de Lange Philip de Lange (c. 1705 – 17 September 1766) was a leading Dutch-Danish architect who designed many different types of building in various styles including Dutch Baroque and Rococo. Early life and family Philip de Lange was probably born ...

. The church was consecrated on 6 January 1734 by Christian Worm, the Bishop of Zealand, at a ceremony attended by King

Christian VI Christian VI (30 November 1699 – 6 August 1746) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1730 to 1746. The eldest surviving son of Frederick IV and Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, he is considered one of Denmark-Norway's more anonymous kings, bu ...

and Crown Prince Frederick (V). The old church bells were transferred from the old to the new church but later repaired several times and finally completely replaced, save the smallest bell which has partly been preserved. The rest of the old church was sold in an auction on 23 February for the price of 211 rigsdaler and 84 skilling. In 1736, through a royal resolution, it was decided that the church was to have its own pastor, and the citizens of the Vesterbro suburb were to belong under it. The first pastor was Johannes Kinast (died 1773). Up through the 19th and 20th century the church was adapted and modernized om several occasions. In 1824 the current rectory was built and in 1865 the church was expanded westward with the

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

while the two original entrances, one for men and one for women, are blinded. In 1868 the church was transferred from state to municipal ownership and in 1898 it became an independent institution.

Architecture

The church is built in Dutch Baroque style and to an octagonal design. The slate roof is from 1876 and replaced a tile roof.

Interior

Furnishings

Installed in 1754, the church's first organ had 10 stops and was built by Hartvig Jochum Müller. Its first organist was Joachim Conrad Oehlenschläger, father of the poet

Adam Oehlenschläger Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger (14 November 177920 January 1850) was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature. He wrote the lyrics to the song ''Der er et yndigt land'', which is one of the national anthems ...

. The current organ, its third, was built in 1947 by Marcussen & Søn in

Åbenrå Aabenraa (; , ; Sønderjysk: ''Affenråe'') is a town in Southern Denmark, at the head of the Aabenraa Fjord, an arm of the Little Belt, north of the Denmark–Germany border and north of German town of Flensburg. It was the seat of Sønder ...

and has 34 stops, 3 manuals and pedal. The combined altar and pulpit is executed by the sculptor Johan Christopher Hübner and carpenter Christian Holfeldt. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject 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 ...

from 1841 is painted by

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (2 January 1783 – 22 July 1853) was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Southern Jutland region of Denmark. He went on to lay the foundation for the period of art known as the Golden Age of Da ...

and depicts the scene from John 17:6-19. According to Dutch reformed tradition it is placed below the pulpit. There are two memorials in the church, both of which were inaugurated on 16 January 1873. One commemorates soldiers fallen in the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

and the other

Churchyard

Today known as ''Frederiksberg Ældre Kirkegård'' (en. Frederiksberg Old Cemetery), the churchyard was established at the same time as the church. It soon became too small and was expanded on a number of occasions to keep pace with the constantly growing population of Frederiksberg.

Interments

For a list of notable interments, see Frederiksberg Ældre Kirkegård#Burials

References

External links

{{Copenhagen churches Lutheran churches in Copenhagen 18th-century Church of Denmark churches Baroque architecture in Copenhagen Buildings and structures in Frederiksberg Municipality Octagonal churches