Århus Domkirke --> the Cathedral

(Yes, I know this picture looks a little off in the middle. The stiching wasn't so good, but you get the picture.)

Århus Domkirke (cathedral) is the longest and tallest cathedral in Denmark. It is situated in the heart of the city surrounded by the labyrinth of antiguity. The actually age of the church is a bit specuality, but then again anything as old as they guess has room for error in my opinion.

The building of the church began in 1190 after the original timber structure burned down to the ground and was complete in 1300 in the tradition style. Later that century the church was, again, up in flames along with a good portion of the city and left abondoned until 1449. By this time the Gothic style of architecture had meandered its way up to Denmark. The church was rebuildt. It was until 1500, that the bishop demanded a larger church. The cathedral was expanded to stand at its current measurements of 93 m long and 96 m tall with the ability to sit about 1.200 people.

Much of the interior is covered in hand painted frescos done between 1470 to 1520. Since the Reformation many of the frescos have disappeared from the white walls, but the Århus Domkirke still has the greatest quantities of frecos in Denmark. The alterpiece is one of Denmark's great treasures by Bernt Notke dedicated on Easter Sunday in 1479.

Over all this is the most stunning church I have ever stepped foot in. I spent probably an hour warming my toes and took just shy of 160 photos. It is a place of great magnitude and the capability to captrue the attention of any traveler.

I think churches hold a lot of history to an area especially where they are old. It is something American truely lacks - the down right old. There actually a lot of churches in Denmark. This I found surprising becaue though about 95% of Denmark is 'religious' almost no one goes to church on a regular bases. Come to find out, in Denmark's earlier years, there was a law that made people go to church faithfully or other wise suffer some form of punishment (a large fine I believe). Pretty interesting really.

Again, I urge you to visit here to see more pictures and with better quality. Just click on the slide show button, sit back, and watch the pictures roll past at a controlled pace.