Budolfi Church: Cathedral of the Diocese of Aalborg
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Denmark
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Danish
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page14 sections
History
Budolfi Church is the cathedral of the Lutheran Diocese of Aalborg in Aalborg, Denmark. Built in the late fourteenth century in the Gothic period, it developed over an earlier Romanesque parish church and is dedicated to St. Botolph, an Anglo-Saxon abbot and saint traditionally associated with learning, holiness, farming, and seafaring. The church became the seat of the Bishop of Aalborg in 1554, when the diocese was established and the bishop’s seat moved from Børglum.
Aalborg and the early churches
Aalborg had grown into a town by the middle of the tenth century. Its position on the east-west Limfjord trade route connected the North Sea with the Baltic. After sand drift closed the western end of the Limfjord in the twelfth century, Aalborg became the regional trade center of northern Jutland.
Christian missionaries probably reached the area during the ninth century. Following the division of Denmark into dioceses in 948, Aalborg eventually came under the See of Viborg. The earliest churches in the town were probably small timber buildings. By no later than 1132, Eskil, Bishop of Viborg, had directed the construction of a Romanesque parish church. This earlier building had a short nave and choir, with semicircular arches and a flat timber ceiling.
The medieval cathedral
The present church was built over and around the earlier structure in the late fourteenth century. It was first listed in the Atlas of Denmark in 1399. Its Gothic form used large bricks, the most common building material in Denmark, and established the main body of the church that survives today.
The dedication to St. Botolph reflects the saint’s popularity in Denmark before the Reformation, the sixteenth-century religious transformation that replaced Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority with Lutheran institutions. Northern Denmark retained elements of its Catholic past longer than other parts of the country because of its rural character and distance from Copenhagen. Budolfi Church consequently preserves a dedication and furnishings that extend across the transition from Catholic to Lutheran worship.
Changes to Aalborg’s churches
By the late seventeenth century, Aalborg’s Church of Our Lady and Abbey Church were considered unnecessary for a town of only a few thousand inhabitants. The Church of Our Lady was demolished, while the Abbey Church and its tower had been dismantled by 1800. Their stone was reused in the expansion of nearby Aalborg Castle. Budolfi’s tower is the sole survivor of the three original church towers represented in Aalborg’s city emblem.
Budolfi itself underwent repeated alterations. Substantial work took place in 1860 and 1886. A west tower was added in 1779, followed by a sacristy on the north side aisle in 1899. In 1942 and 1943, the choir was extended by 14 metres, its vault was raised, and a chapel was added on the north side. The church’s interior also preserves epitaphs, memorial monuments or inscriptions commemorating deceased people, including those dedicated to Karine Hansdatter and to Jacob and Elizabeth Himmerig.
Remains
Building and layout
Budolfi Church is a Gothic brick building with whitewashed brickwork. Its nave and choir together measure 56 metres in length and 22 metres in width, excluding the porch and later extensions. The surviving plan includes the nave, a north transept, a north side aisle, a west gallery, the choir, and a crypt. A transept is the crosswise part of a church that intersects the nave. The church also has a transept with a stepped gable and a projecting portal. Large stones from the earlier Romanesque church can be seen in the cathedral crypt, linking the present building physically with its medieval predecessor.
West tower
The square west-front tower was added in 1779 and rises 28 metres. It is crowned by a 35-metre metal Baroque cupola and spire. Baroque design is known for elaborate forms and ornament. Four clock faces were installed in 1817, and the south side also carries a sundial. The tower’s bells include one cast in 1681 by Rudolph Melchior, another made in 1892 by B. Low & Søn, a 1926 bell by De Smithske, and a bell cast in 1979 by Petit & Fritsen.
Choir and side spaces
The north side aisle received a sacristy in 1899. A sacristy is a room used to store vestments and liturgical equipment. The alterations of 1942 and 1943 lengthened the choir by 14 metres, raised its ceiling vault, and added a chapel on the north side. The building also contains a patron’s gallery installed on the north side in 1766 for the king. Its vaults carry wall paintings made around 1500.
Altar and devotional furnishings
Main altar
The main altar was made in the late seventeenth century by Lauridtz Jensen of Essenbæk Abbey near Randers. Niels Jespersen and Margareta Erichsdatter donated it to the church. Its dark-toned depiction of Golgotha is set within a gilded frame. A painting of the Last Supper occupies the lower section, while Christ’s Entombment is represented above. The altar was restored in 1980.
Carved altar piece and candelabras
Jens Christense and Mette Christensdatter donated the altar candelabras in 1686. A carved altar piece dating from about 1450 stands in the north transept. It came from the estate chapel of Holckershavn, also known as Elleborg, in southern Jutland.
Pulpit and baptismal font
The pulpit dates from 1692 and was carved by Lauridtz Jensen. Johannes Friedenreich, the first apothecary at Jens Bang’s House in Aalborg, and his wife, Magdalena Calow, donated it. Its ten panels depict the Passion of Christ. A black-and-white marble baptismal font was donated in 1728 by the widow Maren Grotum Von Pentz.
Epitaphs and memorials
Among the preserved memorial furnishings are Karine Hansdatter’s Renaissance epitaph from 1583 and the early Neoclassical memorials to Jacob and Elizabeth Himmerig, dated 1773 to 1774. Renaissance design revived forms associated with classical antiquity, while Neoclassical design drew more directly on classical simplicity and proportion.
Organ
The church’s ornate Baroque organ facade was made in 1749 for an instrument by Hartvig Jochum Müller. The present organ was built in 1959 by Th. Frobenius & Sons of Horsens and stands on the west gallery. It has 43 stops, which control sets of pipes, distributed across three manuals and pedals. The manuals are keyboards played by the hands, while the pedals are operated by the feet. The action is mechanical, and the stop action is additionally electric. Leopold Teschl designed the rear organ division in 1959, and its exterior was modified in 2007 to harmonize with the historic case. The organ has undergone several restorations and expansions, most recently in 1959.
Nearby sites
