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Vor Frue Kirke (Church of Our Lady) a Cathedral located in Indre By (Inner City) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Construction of the original Collegiate Church of St. Mary began no later than 1187 under archbishop Absalon. The church was located on the highest point near the new town of Havn, later Copenhagen. Named archbishop of Lund in 1178, Absalon accepted only under threat of excommunication.
In 1314, a fire destroyed the limestone church so completely that it was rebuilt in the popular new building material of the day, oversized red brick. The style of building was Gothic, with its typical pointed arches. The rebuilding of the simple church with a long nave and choir continued until 1388.
The Protestant Reformation was hard on St. Mary's. Citizens of Copenhagen had elected to follow Luther, but Roman Catholic officials at St Mary's tried to maintain the church as a centre of Catholic resistance to change in Copenhagen. By royal decree both Roman Catholic and Lutheran priests were commanded to use the church jointly, which incensed most of the Copenhagen's population. On 27 December 1530 hundreds of citizens stormed St. Mary's, destroying every statue and dismantling the choir stalls.
Lightning strikes damaged the church in 1573 and 1585, and some of the vaulting, tower, and roof collapsed after the resulting fires. The tower was eventually demolished but rebuilt by 1609.
The medieval proto-cathedral was destroyed by a four-day-long conflagration in October 1728 which destroyed a third of the city. All the many chapels and eighty epitaphs commemorating some of Denmark's most prominent nobles and wealthy parishioners vanished.
A decade later, the church was reconstructed, essentially on the same plan as the medieval church, in red brick with a simple long nave and rounded choir added at the end and ornate sandstone doorways beneath the spire. The interior combined Gothic and with the ornate Baroque style of the time.
In September 1807, the cathedral fell victim to the bombardment of Copenhagen by the British Royal Navy under Admiral James Gambier (1756–1833) during the Napoleonic Wars. The British demanded the surrender of the Danish Fleet and the city. The Danes refused, but with most of the army on the Schleswig-Holstein border, the city was nearly defenceless.
For three days the fleet bombarded the city and coastal forts. British gunners used the tower of Our Lady Church for range practice, setting it ablaze, which in turn burned the church to the ground, along with nearby sections of Copenhagen. Copenhagen surrendered and the fleet was turned over to the British.
Information Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady,_Copenhagen
44362
Vor Frue Kirke (Church of Our Lady) a Cathedral located in Indre By (Inner City) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Construction of the original Collegiate Church of St. Mary began no later than 1187 under archbishop Absalon. The church was located on the highest point near the new town of Havn, later Copenhagen. Named archbishop of Lund in 1178, Absalon accepted only under threat of excommunication.
In 1314, a fire destroyed the limestone church so completely that it was rebuilt in the popular new building material of the day, oversized red brick. The style of building was Gothic, with its typical pointed arches. The rebuilding of the simple church with a long nave and choir continued until 1388.
The Protestant Reformation was hard on St. Mary's. Citizens of Copenhagen had elected to follow Luther, but Roman Catholic officials at St Mary's tried to maintain the church as a centre of Catholic resistance to change in Copenhagen. By royal decree both Roman Catholic and Lutheran priests were commanded to use the church jointly, which incensed most of the Copenhagen's population. On 27 December 1530 hundreds of citizens stormed St. Mary's, destroying every statue and dismantling the choir stalls.
Lightning strikes damaged the church in 1573 and 1585, and some of the vaulting, tower, and roof collapsed after the resulting fires. The tower was eventually demolished but rebuilt by 1609.
The medieval proto-cathedral was destroyed by a four-day-long conflagration in October 1728 which destroyed a third of the city. All the many chapels and eighty epitaphs commemorating some of Denmark's most prominent nobles and wealthy parishioners vanished.
A decade later, the church was reconstructed, essentially on the same plan as the medieval church, in red brick with a simple long nave and rounded choir added at the end and ornate sandstone doorways beneath the spire. The interior combined Gothic and with the ornate Baroque style of the time.
In September 1807, the cathedral fell victim to the bombardment of Copenhagen by the British Royal Navy under Admiral James Gambier (1756–1833) during the Napoleonic Wars. The British demanded the surrender of the Danish Fleet and the city. The Danes refused, but with most of the army on the Schleswig-Holstein border, the city was nearly defenceless.
For three days the fleet bombarded the city and coastal forts. British gunners used the tower of Our Lady Church for range practice, setting it ablaze, which in turn burned the church to the ground, along with nearby sections of Copenhagen. Copenhagen surrendered and the fleet was turned over to the British.
Information Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady,_Copenhagen