Grundtvigs Kirke

Lisbeth and I rode up to Grundtvigs Kirke today. (Kirke is church in Danish.) By European standards, this is a very new church, having been completed in 1940.

Grundtvig (1783 to 1872) was a Danish theologian and priest who had a major impact on the church and education in Denmark. In addition to writing around 1500 hymns, he is credited for the creation of the “Højskole” schools — specialized schools that are still around today.

The front the church, in my opinion, looks like a nuclear warhead. Lisbeth thinks it looks more like the pope’s hat (which, she admitted, also looks like a nuclear warhead.)

The inside of the church is undecorated, and surprisingly beautiful. It’s very much unlike the vast majority of churches I’ve seen. There are no pews, for example. (Apparently there were originally.)

There’s an incredible pipe organ opposite the altar — I’ve certainly never seen anything like it.

As you can see in the first row of pictures, the church is next to a massive cemetery. Danish cemeteries are hard to describe and hard to photograph, but they’re beautiful. Each grave is offset with hedges, and there are trees and flowers everywhere. In fact, take the graves away, and it’s a beautiful park in its own right.