Karise is the main town of Karise Parish in

Faxe Municipality Faxe Municipality () is a '' kommune'' in Denmark in the Region Sjælland on the island of Zealand. The municipality covers an area of 406 km2 and has a population of 37,820 (2025). Its mayor as of January 2018 is Ole Vive. He is a member o ...

Region Sjælland Region Zealand () is an administrative region of Denmark. It is one of the five classified NUTS-2 statistical regions of Denmark. It was established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional ...

("Zealand Region") in the southeast of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Karise town has a population of 2,443 (1 January 2025) (Karise Parish: 2,906 (2025)) Population 1. January, 1. April, 1. July and 1. October by parish and time
The Mobile Statbank from

Statistics Denmark Statistics Denmark () is a Danish governmental organization under the Ministry of the Interior and Housing, reporting to the Minister of Economic and Internal Affairs. The organization is responsible for creating statistics on the Danish society ...

Karise is mentioned in 1261, when Peder Olufsen, a local

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

, in his will donated 12 marks to the consecration of Karise Church. Until the municipal reform of 1972, Karise was part of its own Karise Municipality.

Karise Church

The church is built as a fortified church which served as a place of refuge during wendish incursions in the 13th century. At that time the stream on the east side of the church was a navigable fjord, rendering the surrounding villages an easy target for the wendish pirates. The architecture of the church displays both romanesque and gothic style features. The windows in the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

are romanesque round arches while the windows in 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 ...

are gothic pointed arches. The double function of the church as both of a fortress and a church can be seen in the unusual design of having two church towers. One of the towers has later been lowered to give the church a more classic Danish church look. The larger tower also still have archer holes. The yellow and grey memorial chapel on the southern side of the church was built in 1766-1769 by Count A. G. Moltke and designed by C. F. Harsdorff. The neo-classical style of the chapel contrasts the medieval brickwork of the church.

The Town

The original village was situated northwest of the church. A large part of the village was consumed in a great fire in 1804 and never rebuilt since the village was undergoing

enclosure Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...

. Modern day Karise is centered on the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

which was built in 1879. The railway connects Karise with neighbouring towns

Faxe Faxe or Fakse is a town on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. It is located in Faxe Municipality in Region Zealand. The town is most known for the Faxe Brewery, Royal Unibrew, a relatively large brewery producing a range of beer and soft ...

and

Hårlev Hårlev is a railway town with a population of 2,905 (1 January 2025) in Stevns Municipality on the southeastern part of the Denmark, Danish island of Zealand about 12 kilometres south of Køge. Overview Hårlev was located in the former :da:Bj� ...

as well as

Køge Køge (, older spelling ''Kjøge'') is a Danish seaport on the coast of Køge Bugt (''Bay of Køge'') 39 km southwest of Copenhagen. It is the principal town and seat of Køge Municipality, Region Sjælland (Zealand), Denmark. In 2025, the ...

and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Karise in fiction

According to the legend of Mrs. Marthe, her estate Karisegård was destroyed by wendish pirates. Mrs. Marthe fled to a small chamber above the apse of Karise Church and remained there until her property was reconstructed. Poet and novelist B. S. Ingemann mentions the fictive person ''Karl of Riise'' in his historic novel ''Valdemar the Victorius'' (Danish: ''Valdemar Seier''). ''Karl of Riise'' was a

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. Terminology ''Squire'' ...

of archbishop

Anders Sunesen Anders Sunesen (also ''Andreas'', ''Suneson'', ''Sunesøn'', Latin: ''Andreas Sunonis'') (c. 1167 – 1228) was a Danish archbishop of Lund, Scania, from 21 March 1201, at the death of Absalon, to his own death in 1228. He is the author of ...

during the

Northern Crusades The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Church, Catholic Christian Military order (society), military orders and kingdoms, primarily against the paganism, pagan Balts, Baltic, Baltic Finns, ...

against the

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people () are a Finnic ethnic group native to the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, primarily their nation state of Estonia. Estonians primarily speak the Estonian language, a language closely related to other Finni ...

. In the Battle of Lindanise in 1219, ''Karl af Rise'' is mentioned as being the person who caught the Danish flag,

Dannebrog Dannebrog (until the mid-20th century often spelled Danebrog) may refer to: Flags and orders * The flag of Denmark * Order of the Dannebrog (), a Royal Danish decoration Places * Dannebrog Island, an island in Greenland * Dannebrog Islands, ...

, when it fell from the sky. Karise is mentioned in a few folk songs. Most famous are "Lille fregnede Louise (fra Karise)" and "Slikkehans". Karise is also mentioned in the comedy song "Syd for Køge" by Monrad & Rislund. The title of the Danish national play

Elves' Hill ''Elves' Hill'' () is a comedy by Johan Ludvig Heiberg, with overture and incidental music by Friedrich Kuhlau (Op. 100), which is considered the first Danish national play. History ''Elves' Hill'' was commissioned by Frederik VI for the we ...

(Danish: ''Elverhøj'') refers to a small mound situated 2.5 kilometers northeast of Karise.

Notable people

* Louise Ringsing (born 1996 in Karise) a footballer who plays for Brøndby IF and for the Denmark women's national under-23 team

References

External links