Danmark Church () is a church located in the minor locality of Danmark in

Uppsala Municipality Uppsala Municipality () is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Uppsala has a population of 211,411 (2016-06-30). Its seat is located in the university city of Uppsala. Uppsala Municipality was created through amalgamations t ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, some 8 kilometers southeast of

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

History

The church is first attested in writing in 1291. In proximity to the church are several

runestones A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

, featuring Christian inscriptions and crosses. The church itself is a brick building, the oldest parts of which stem from the 14th century. By the late 15th century, the church had roughly the same appearance as today, but has since been modified and expanded, notably after being ravaged by fires caused by lightning strikes in 1699 and 1889. After the 1889 fire, the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

spire was added. The church is situated near

Linnaeus Hammarby Linnaeus's Hammarby () is a historic house museum and mansion, and one of three botanical gardens belonging to Uppsala University, located in Sweden. It is situated about 10 km south-east of Uppsala. Carl Linnaeus The manor house Hammarby w ...

and was, in 1758–1778, the parish church of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

; however, Linnaeus received complaints for his tendency to leave before the service had ended. He would also on occasion send his dog, Pompe, in his place, who would also leave early.

Etymology

The origin of the name ''Danmark'' is unclear, but several theories have been proposed. The explanation most commonly accepted by modern name research is that the name consists of the prefix ''dan-'', derived from Old Norse ''dank'', meaning "wet" or "boggy", and the suffix ''-mark'' meaning "forest" or "forest's edge". ''Danmark'' would thus mean "the forest by the wetlands".

Olaus Magnus Olaus Magnus (born Olof Månsson; October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic clergyman. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his Swedish birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in Octo ...

offers another explanation in ''

A Description of the Northern Peoples ''Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus'' is a work by Olaus Magnus on the Nordic countries, printed in Rome in 1555. It long remained for the rest of Europe the authority on Swedish matters. Its popularity was increased by the numerous woodc ...

'' (7:15), stating that the church "took its name from the homeland of the enemy /nowiki>Denmark">Denmark.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Denmark">/nowiki>Denmark/nowiki>, as the mighty building was funded by loot taken from him, and thus stands as an eternal memorial for those who have fallen." A third theory postulates that the name translates as "wood of the Danes", suggesting it may have been a settlement for Danes. However, later research asserts that any connection to Denmark is unlikely.

The building

The church features

frescos 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 becom ...

by Johannes Rosenrod and

Albertus Pictor Albertus Pictor (English, "Albert the Painter"; Immenhusen, c. 1440 – c. 1507), also called Albert Pictor, Albert Målare and Albrekt Pärlstickare (Swedish), is the most famous late medieval Swedish painter, known for his wallpaintings survivi ...

. The

weathercock A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , me ...

is from the late 19th century and was named "weathercock of the year" in 1989. The choir windows were made in 1958 by Julia Lüning.

Gallery

File:Danmark kyrka nave01.jpg, Interior File:Danmark kyrka ceiling paintings02.jpg, Paintings by

File:Danmark kyrka Church window01.jpg, Church window by the altar File:Danmark kyrka Crucifix.jpg, Crucifix File:U945 Upplands runinskrifter Danmarks kyrka.jpg, The runestone U 945

Literature

* ''Våra kyrkor'', p. 24, Klarkullens Förlag AB, Västervik, 1990,

References

External links

{{Churches in Uppland Churches in Uppsala County 14th-century churches in Sweden Church frescos in Sweden Churches in the Archdiocese of Uppsala Churches converted from the Roman Catholic Church to the Church of Sweden Uppsala Municipality de:Danmark (Uppsala)