Tingsted Church, located on high ground in the village of Tingsted on the Danish island of

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 Romanesque style, it is best known for its

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 end of the 15th century.

History

At an early stage, the pink-plastered church was dedicated to St Peter. As the name Tingsted implies, the place was originally associated with early lawmaking in the area. In 1329, King Christopher II concluded an agreement with Marsk Ludvig Eberstein, head of the armed forces, after his surrender at

Hammershus Hammershus is a medieval era fortification at Hammeren on the northern tip of the Danish island of Bornholm. The fortress was partially demolished around 1750 and is now a ruin. It was partially restored around 1900. History Hammershus was Sc ...

and in 1329 made peace with Count Johann of Holstein. In 1511, Falster's ''landsting'' (regional council) was held in the churchyard and the following year King Hans presided over a dispute between his

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

and the bishop. Jacob Christian Lindberg, who translated the Bible into Danish and, together with

Grundtvig Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (; 8 September 1783 – 2 September 1872), most often referred to as N. F. S. Grundtvig, was a Danish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian, teacher and politician. He was one of the most influential p ...

played an active part in religious reforms, was named

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

in January 1844.

Architecture and fittings

Built of local

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

with limestone framing around the windows and doors, the church initially consisted of 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 ...

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 a half-domed

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 ' ...

. Traces of the original rounded windows highly positioned in the nave and apse can still be seen. Around 1500, the Late Gothic tower and porch were added and the flat ceiling in the nave was replaced by cross-vaulting. The windows were later adapted to the positioning of the vaults. The tower probably had stepped gables until it received the pyramid-shaped spire. It is thought the relatively steep roof above the nave resulted from the need to provide room for the top of the arches used for the vaulting. The panel on the 17th-century altar is the work of

Antonius Clement Antonius is a masculine given name, as well as a surname. Antonius is a Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Latin, Norwegian, and Swedish name used in Greenland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, part of the Republic of Karelia, Estonia, Belgium, Netherlan ...

, Queen Sophia's court painter. Its three niches have female figures representing Faith, Hope and Charity and are bordered by slim figures representing the

cardinal virtues The cardinal virtues are four virtues of mind and character in classical philosophy. They are prudence, Justice (virtue), justice, Courage, fortitude, and Temperance (virtue), temperance. They form a Virtue ethics, virtue theory of ethics. The t ...

: Temperance, Justice, Prudence and Fortitude. The elaborately worked

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

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, ...

(1616) contains a painting of the

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, ''The Last Supper (Leonardo), The Last Supper'' (1495-1498). Mural, tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic ...

. The carved baroque pulpit (1633) by

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.

with paintings by Anthonius Clement bears similarities to the one in

Kippinge Church Kippinge Church () stands alone, midway between Vester Kippinge and Øster Kippinge in northwestern Falster, Denmark. It is west of Redslev wood. Thanks to three reputed miracles, the Early Gothic church attracted many pilgrims until the end of th ...

. The Romanesque

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

has a wide, rounded bowl.Kirsten Weber-Andersen, Otto Norn, Aage Roussell, Gertrud Købke Knudsen, "Tingsted Kirke"
''Danmarks kirker: Maribo amt, Volume 8'', 1951, Nationalmuseet, pages 1309–1326. Retrieved 14 November 2012.

Frescos

The frescos in the chancel and the nave from the late 15th century are 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. Rediscovered under the

whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

in 1877, they depict the

baptism of Jesus The baptism of Jesus, the ritual purification of Jesus with water by John the Baptist, was a major event described in the three synoptic Gospels of the New Testament ( Matthew, Mark and Luke). It is considered to have taken place at Al-Maghta ...

, the suicide of Judas, the rich man and the poor man together with the

Fall Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemispher ...

and the Expulsion. The rich man, kneeling before Christ, wears a long-tailed hood, an article of clothing reserved for the more affluent of the time. There are also two non-Biblical frescos, one of the wheel of life, the other depicting the churning of butter."Tingsted kirke"
Nordens kirker. Retrieved 22 November 2012. The captions around the wheel of life are typical of the Elmelund Master. Three figures of kings are placed around a cartwheel. On the left, the king who is rising says "regnabo" (I will rule), the one at the top, dressed in fine clothes and holding a fine glass of wine, announces "regno" (I rule), the one on the right, his bearded head hanging low, says "regnavi" (I have ruled) while the dead body of the king with folded hands below the wheel is accompanied by a banner stating "sum sine regno sic transit gloria mundi" (I am without a kingdom so transpires the glory of the world).Heidi Pfeiffer & Ove H. Nielsen, "Lolland-Falster – historier i landskabet", 2012, Lolland-Falsters Historiske Samfund, pages 40–41. . File:Nordenskirker tingsted42.jpg, Fresco: the rich man and the poor man File:Nordenskirker tingsted35.jpg, Fresco: Judas's death by suicide File:Nordenskirker tingsted36.jpg, Fresco: Jesus's baptism File:Nordenskirker tingsted10.jpg, Fresco: the Annunciation

References

{{coord, 54, 48, 49, N, 11, 54, 31, 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