Sundby Church ( Danish: Sundby Kirke) is a

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church ( , or unofficially ; ), sometimes called the Church of Denmark, is the established, state-supported church in Denmark. The supreme secular authority of the church is composed of ...

parish church located on

Amagerbrogade Amagerbrogade is the main shopping street and thoroughfare of the part of Copenhagen, Denmark that is located on the island of Amager. It begins at the end of the causeway which connects Amager to Christianshavn and the city centre on the other si ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Completed in 1870 to designs by

Hans Jørgen Holm Hans Jørgen Holm (9 May 1835 – 22 July 1916) was a Danish architect. A pupil of Johan Daniel Herholdt, he became a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and a leading Danish proponent of the National Romantic style. Biograp ...

, it is the oldest church on the northern part of

Amager Amager ( ), located in the Øresund, is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 216,000 inhabitants (January 2022). The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (including Kalvebod Fælled) makes up more than one-third of the ...

History

In the middle of the 19th century, Sundby still belonged to the parish of

Tårnby Tårnby () is a town in Denmark, the seat of Tårnby Municipality in the Capital Region of Denmark. It is located approximately south of central Copenhagen on the island of Amager. Neighbouring settlements include the Copenhagen suburb of S ...

but the old village church there was located almost five kilometres away. A local committee was therefore established in 1868 to raise money for the construction of a new church, charging the architect

with its design. Construction began in 1869 and the new church was consecrated in 1870. Nathanael's Parish was disjoined from Sundby Parish in 1899. The church was refurbished by Frederik Zeuthen and Cai Bertelsen in 1963.

Architecture

The church has a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

plan and is built in red brick to a Neo-Romanseque design. The roof is topped by an octagonal flèche. The

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 ...

faces north-east. Decorations include corner leseness and round arched friezes on the gables. A

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

was built at the nave's south-west gable in 1941. Its tympanum and bronze door were designed by the artist Max Andersen. The bronze door was installed in 1974 to mark the 100th anniversary of the church. The tympanum's relief is identical to the one above the entrance of Absalon Church on Sønder Boulevard. The six reliefs on the bronze door show scenes associated with the

Passion of Christ The Passion (from latin language, Latin , "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy ...

Sundby Cemetery

Sundby Cemetery (Danish: Sundby Kirkegård) was established in 1872 at a site a little to the south of the church and is the main cemetery for Amager. It consists of an old and a modern section, located on either side of Kastrupvej, with a combined area of 10 hectares. The old section will be decommissioned in 2020.

References

External links

Official website
*
Concerts in the church
{{Copenhagen churches 1870 establishments in Denmark Churches completed in 1870 Churches in the Diocese of Copenhagen Lutheran churches in Copenhagen