Aastrup Church (), located on the top of a steep hill in the village of Aastrup, southwest of

Stubbekøbing Stubbekøbing () is a town with a population of 2,196 (1 January 2024) ...

Falster Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010.

, dates from c. 1200. Built in the Late Romanesque style, it has

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s from the 13th and 15th centuries.

History

The church was dedicated to

St Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's nam ...

although this was probably not its original patron as Anne was not generally known in Denmark until the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The Crown, which enjoyed clerical appointment rights since before the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, sold the church in 1767 to the parish priest, Christian Henrik Biering. In 1810,

Peter Hersleb Classen Peter Hersleb Classen, frequently also P. H. Classen, (10 March 1738 – 19 May 1825) was a Norwegian- Danish statesman and director of Det Classenske Fideicommis. Career Classen was born in Christiania, Norway. After completing schooling in Ch ...

, director of

Det Classenske Fideicommis Det Classenske Fideicommis (literally "The Classen Fideicommiss") is a Danish charitable foundation. By testament in 1789 and his codicil of March 23, 1792, the industrialist Major General Johan Frederik Classen left behind his wealth and posse ...

, transferred the church's ownership to the local landowners and in 1919 it became autonomous.Kirsten Weber-Andersen, Otto Norn, Aage Roussell, Gertrud Købke Knudsen, "Tingsted Kirke"
''Danmarks kirker: Maribo amt, Volume 8'', 1951, Nationalmuseet, pages 1345–1358. Retrieved 14 November 2012.

Architecture

The brick

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

both have round arch friezes below the

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

. The south door, partly bricked up, is still in use but the north door, whose remnants were uncovered in 1984, is completely closed. The nave was extended at the end of the 15th century when

cross-vault A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...

ing replaced the flat ceiling. The remains of the priest's door can be seen on the south wall of the chancel. The east gable contains a rounded Romanesque window while traces of the other Romanesque windows can be seen in the masonry. The tower with stepped gables, built in the Gothic period, fills the full width of the nave. The porch dates from the same period."Åstrup kirke"
, Nordens kirker. Retrieved 25 November 2012. On the nave's eastern gable there is a relief of two heads and on the chancel's east gable, there is a head above the window. These have given rise to a legend about three virgins who had been to church in Horbelev and were murdered when returning home: one in Horbelev, one in Aastrup and the third in

Grønsund Grønsund is a strait in Denmark separating the island Falster from the smaller islands of Møn and Bogø. Grønsund Færgegård, Grønsund is also the name of a locality on the northeast coast of Falster from where the ferries to Møn used to ...

. The three murderers were the women's brothers who were taken by robbers when they were small children. According to the legend, the three heads in Aastrup are those of the virgins while those on the tower at Horbelev are those of the robbers.

Interior

The Neoclassical

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, ...

from 1838 has a painting of Christ at Emmaus by Fritz Westphal. The pulpit carved in the

auricular style The auricular style or lobate style (Dutch: ''kwabstijl'', German: ''Ohrmuschelstil'') is a style of ornamental decoration, mainly found in Northern Europe in the first half of the 17th century, bridging Northern Mannerism and the Baroque. The st ...

Jørgen Ringnis Jørgen Ringnis, also known as "Jørgen Billedsnider", (birth unknown, died 1652 in Nakskov) was a Danish woodcarver. He created a number of altarpieces and pulpits in Danish churches, especially on the islands of Lolland and Falster.

(1645) is similar to those in Toreby and

Væggerløse Væggerløse is a town some south of Nykøbing Falster on the Danish island of Falster. It has large housing developments and until 2006 was the administrative centre for the now defunct Sydfalster Municipality. In January 2024 it had a populat ...

. The high

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

from around 1400 used to hang above the chancel arch but is now above the door to the porch. It depicts a thin figure whose thorn-covered head falls to his right shoulder. The arms are long and thin and the hands unnaturally small and stumpy. The church's limestone font is Late Gothic.

Frescos

Frescos in the chancel and the nave from the late 15th century were rediscovered underneath a whitewash in 1901. They are probably the work of the

Elmelunde Master The Elmelunde Master, Danish ''Elmelundemesteren'', is the designation given to the nameless 16th-century artist who painted the frescos in the churches of Elmelunde Church, Elmelunde, Fanefjord Church, Fanefjord and Keldby Church, Keldby on the ...

and his workshop, although they also appear to have been influenced by the nearby Brarup workshop. They depict scenes from the Creation and the

Passion Passion, the Passion or the Passions may refer to: Emotion * Passion (emotion), a very strong feeling about a person or thing * Passions (philosophy), emotional states as used in philosophical discussions * Stoic passions, various forms of emotio ...

, including Christ bearing his cross, the suicide of Judas, and the rich man and the poor man. In 1943, an older fresco (c. 1275) depicting a Majestas Domini was discovered on the wall above the chancel arch.

Graveyard

Notable burials at the associated graveyard include former principal of Classen's Agrivultural School Albert la Cour and agriculturalist Adolph Lacoppidan.

Gallery

File:Nordenskirker Aastedfalst13.jpg, The nave File:Nordenskirker Aastedfalst56.jpg, Fresco: the rich man and the poor man File:Nordenskirker Aastedfalst32.jpg, Fresco: Judas' death by suicide File:Nordenskirker Aastedfalst29.jpg, Fresco: Christ bearing the cross File:Nordenskirker Aastedfalst59.jpg, The font

References

{{coord, 54, 50, 52, N, 12, 05, 03, E, display=title Churches in Falster Church frescos in Denmark Romanesque church buildings Lutheran churches converted from Roman Catholicism Churches in the Diocese of Lolland–Falster