Hasle Church: A Late Gothic Parish Church in Denmark
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Denmark
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Danish
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page9 sections
History
Hasle Church is an Evangelical Lutheran parish church in Denmark that probably dates from the fifteenth century and originated as a Late Gothic building. It serves Hasle, a harbor town on the west coast of Bornholm, within the Church of Denmark and the Diocese of Copenhagen.
Medieval origins and the Reformation
The church’s dedication is dated to around 1460, and it was first recorded as Hasle Chapel in 1569. Until the Reformation, the sixteenth-century religious transformation through which Denmark became predominantly Lutheran, the church belonged to the Catholic Archdiocese of Lund. It then came under the Danish Crown as church institutions were brought under royal control.
Parish life and later changes
By 1600 at the latest, Hasle parish was administered jointly by the pastor of Rutsker Church. Its best-known pastor was Povl Ancher, a seventeenth-century Danish Lutheran clergyman. During the Swedish occupation in 1658, insurgents opposing Swedish rule were hosted at the Hasle parsonage, the residence provided for the parish pastor.
The church was enlarged and reorganized in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A western tower was added in 1758, followed by a southern porch in 1882. In 1887, the principal entrance was moved to the west end beneath the tower. These changes established the external arrangement that frames the medieval core of the building.
Remains
Hasle Church stands on a natural hill east of Hasle, overlooking the harbor. Its original structure is a simple Late Gothic longhouse nave, approximately 30 metres long, with a three-sided chancel at the east. The nave walls are about 3 metres high, built from fieldstone and covered with white plaster. Wooden-framed windows date from around 1833, and a large niche is set beneath the southern window of the polygonal chancel. The western tower dates from 1758, while the vaulted ceiling was installed in 1847.
Church furnishings
Baptismal font
The baptismal font is carved from Gotland limestone and dates from the thirteenth century. Its wide, shallow bowl rests on a conical base, while pointed arches decorate its sloping sides.
Altarpiece
The early-sixteenth-century altarpiece is a carved and gilded triptych, an arrangement with a central panel and two hinged wings, probably made in Lübeck. Its central scene shows the Crucifixion, with Mary and John beside the cross. The arms of the cross carry representations of the sun and moon.
Saint Barbara, identified by the tower she holds, stands beneath a canopy on the right side of the central group. An unidentified bishop occupies the corresponding position on the left. Angels collecting Christ’s blood in chalices were reconstructed during the 1847 restoration. The painted finish dates from that restoration and was revised in 1902 to 1904. The altarpiece stands on a contemporary predella, the subordinate base beneath an altarpiece, which is now undecorated.
The north, or left, wing contains two scenes. The Flagellation of Jesus appears above his interrogation before Pontius Pilate, who is shown washing his hands. The south, or right, wing depicts Christ wearing the crown of thorns above Christ carrying the cross.
Pulpit and organ gallery
The late-sixteenth-century Renaissance pulpit is probably of Flemish origin. Reliefs of the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Crucifixion decorate its three sides, with Low German biblical texts above them interpreting the scenes. At the western end of the church, the organ gallery dates from the eighteenth century.
Former churchyard and Marevad Stone
The former churchyard is enclosed by a fieldstone wall and contains individual gravestones dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. It also holds the Marevad Stone, designated Klemensker Stone 4, or DK Bh 4. The runestone, a medieval Scandinavian stone monument bearing a runic inscription, was made around 1100. It is approximately 2 metres high and about 85 centimetres wide.
Before reaching the churchyard, the Marevad Stone was reused in a bridge over a stream near Marevad, between Klemensker and Hasle. Its carved band ends in a serpent’s head and encircles a Saint George’s cross. The inscription states that Eilak raised the stone for his father Sasser, described as a good landowner, and asks God and Saint Michael to help his soul.
