Sædden Church ( da, Sædden Kirke) is a
Church of Denmark church in
Esbjerg
Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022) in the southwest of
Jutland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
, Denmark. Designed by
Inger and Johannes Exner
Inger Augusta Exner, Hon. FAIA (born 20 August 1926, Randers) and Johannes Exner, Hon. FAIA (born 25 March 1926, Hald near Randers; died 16 May 2015) were a Danish couple who cooperated closely as architects. They met at high school and studied a ...
, the almost cube-shaped building with a tall, free-standing bell tower was completed and consecrated in 1978.
Architecture
Located in the
Sædding
Sædding is a district of Esbjerg in southwest Jutland, Denmark, some northwest of the centre and southeast of Hjerting.
History
Once a village, Sædding (originally ''Sæthum'', later also ''Sæddæn'') has now become a district of Esbjerg. I ...
neighbourhood northwest of Esbjerg's centre, the church is built entirely of red brick, with wave-shaped folds on the north and east walls. There are galleries on the other two walls. The complex also consists of parish rooms and administrative offices.
[ The free-standing tower is strangely shaped with a round base and a square top.
]
Interior
The square-shaped interior is contained within plain brick walls. Daylight enters from the top of the tall, folds in the walls and from the ceiling, supplemented by 803 electric bulbs which hang from high above. The effect is such that the altar is the most highly illuminated feature in the church.
The pews are positioned around the altar and the square-shaped marble font
In movable type, metal typesetting, a font is a particular #Characteristics, size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "Sort (typesetting), sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of ...
. The centrally-placed altar table, also made of white marble thick, stands on two short columns, each individually shaped as in Solomon's temple
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by th ...
. A cross designed by Bent Exner
Bent may refer to:
Places
* Bent, Iran, a city in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran
* Bent District, an administrative subdivision of Iran
* Bent, Netherlands, a village in the municipality of Rijnwoude, the Netherlands
* Bent County, Colorad ...
hangs above it, its 12 small globes symbolizing the apostles and its central gilded mirror, Jesus. The pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
in pierced brickwork on the north wall stands below a shell-shaped canopy. For acoustical reasons, it is positioned inside one of the recesses formed by the folds in the wall.
Gallery
File:Nordenskirker Saedden(13).jpg, Pulpit
File:Nordenskirker Saedden(12).jpg, Starlights and Organ
File:Nordenskirker Saedden(09).jpg, Altar
File:Nordenskirker Saedden(07).jpg, Porch/waiting room
References
Literature
*
External links
Sædden Kirke website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saedden Church
Buildings and structures in Esbjerg
Churches in the Region of Southern Denmark
Churches completed in 1978
20th-century Church of Denmark churches
Churches in the diocese of Ribe