Following the overview of our 3-week drive through Denmark, and true to my promise, here's one of the churches we visited inside.
It once formed part of the Carmelite monastery from the 15th century
and is the reason why we chose Sæby as our city of choice for our farthest-north
destination in Denmark, 54 km south of Skagen on Jutland island.
Even without seeing the inside, we were sold on visiting it!
It was named St. Mary's Church ca. 1450 and was granted permission
by Pope Pius II in 1462 to become a Carmelite monastery.
After opening the door of the church lobby, this is the long view of the nave,
straight to the altar at the end.
OMG. Where do you even start!
Well, since you see a room off to the bottom-right, let's start there.
It's the Chapter House, usually off to the side, where meetings are held.
It was clearly impressive but not where we spent the bulk of our time.
What I typically do in such a church is walk straight to the altar and then look back.
This particular altarpiece is late-Gothic, dating around 1520.
When I turned and looked back, I saw exactly how narrow the nave is.
So, do you see what I see? The pulpit (left) and the organ (back), of course!
We had already passed the pulpit at the beginning of the nave
(near the entrance to the Chapter House on the right).
It and its canopy were carved around 1577, during the early Renaissance.
Every time I see a pulpit like this, I wonder what my preacher dad would think,
and would he feel comfortable preaching from it?
Notice how he could look to his left and see his wife at the organ,
at the opposite end from the altar!
[photo credit: Astrid]
My mom, the preacher's wife, played both the piano and the organ,
and also directed the choir. How would she feel about doing that here?
They both were also artists...and Protestants (Baptists)!
To be honest, I think they'd get an awesome kick out of visiting this church.
It's like the sermons have floated to the ceiling, becoming eternalized frescoes.
I can picture Dad picking out something funny and pointing to it in a sermon.
He always liked a good joke! Mom also composed music and would surely be inspired?
But...back to the nave, because I digress.
This is the only fresco I remember not on the ceiling.
[photo credit: Astrid]
Actually, both Mom and Dad would love and study it!
(See, I can't stop thinking about how they would view all of this.)
At the end of church posts like this, I dump the things that don't fit elsewhere
into my MISC collage. But I must say that I did not grow up in any church
with ships hanging from the ceiling. Did you?
We see them in churches all over Europe, called votive ships.
If your appetite is whetted,
wait till I show you a couple of the Evangelical Lutheran Churches we visited!
