Ever since the early Middle Ages, Roskilde Cathedral has been on of Denmark's most outstanding churches, being cathedral for the diocese of Zealand and from 1923 for the diocese of Roskilde.
At least two churches have preceded the present catedral on the very same site. The first one was a wooden church erected by Harald Blaatand (Bluetooth). During the 11th century it was replaced by one or perhaps two consecutive churches made of travertine. Around 1080, however the church was a three-aisled basilica built by bishop Svend Normand.
In the 1170's bishop Absalon began the erection of the brick church as romanesque church with long and wide transepts. Still, the construction was changed by Peder Suneson (bishop 1191-1214) who was inspired by Gothic cathedral construction in France. The actual church was finished a. 1280, but since then each century has added its own extensions in various styles.
Also the interior oh the cathedral has been considerably changed in the course of time. Before the Reformation in 1536 the cathedral was Catholic. Almost half of the interior formed a closed choir including stalls for all the canons and farthest to the east, the High Altar, Spread in the cathedral and the chapels there were furthermore a considerable number of side alters. After the Reformation the side alters were removed, new furniture was installed for the new Protestant service, and later the choir was opened to the west.
Since the Reformation all Danish Kings and almost all queens have been buried in Roskilde Cathedral; many of them in special Royal Sepulchral Chapels. The Cathedral, however, also holds a few medieval Royal tombs. On the most dignified place, in the middle of the situated the magnificent sarcophagus of Queen Margrete I.
When Cx, Cg and I walked into the main square where the farmer's market was you could already the top of the church. Once we got closer we realized how big this place was, it took us a while to walk around the entire building.
While walking around we could not find the door which was open to enter inside the church. There were many beautiful doors but we did not see any people come in or out of any of these doors.
When we finally reached the front of the church it was truly amazing to see the size of front door, and the art work on the door. I also was amazed by the size of the church it was truly a large beautiful building.
Cx, Cg and I got frustrated about not finding a way inside (we honestly thought it was closed) decided to go off to the Viking museum. The Viking museum will get its blog post because it was so much fun.
After spending hours at the Viking museum we walked past the Roskilde Cathedral again; Cx found a small door on the South side of the church. She said "I am just going to try this door." As she walked closer to the door it suddenly opened and the look of shock on Cx face was priceless. "I was expecting it to be locked" she said. Cg and I could not stop laughing.
We looked inside and there was a small front desk and the entrance to the church. We ask the lady at the front desk if the church was still open for viewing and she mentioned that only the main portion is open for viewing at no cost. If we wanted to see the burial sites of the all the Kings and Queens it would cost 50 kr and we would have to wait a half an hour. We were already exhausted and did not feel like waiting that long so we just looked inside the main portion. HOWEVER I do plan on going back to see the full tour of the church, I want to see where the majority of the Danish Kings and Queens are buried.
Inside this place was magnificent and huge!
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