Roskilde Cathedral: Denmark’s Royal Burial Church
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History
Roskilde Cathedral is a Lutheran cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark, built by Danish churchmen from the eleventh century onward in a changing Romanesque and Gothic style. It is the seat of the Diocese of Roskilde and the official royal burial church of the Danish monarchy. Dedicated today to the Virgin Mary, it was earlier associated with the Holy Trinity and Saint Lucius.
The royal church and early cathedral
Roskilde became a royal residence and was made a Danish capital by King Harald Bluetooth around 960. Beside a royal farm, Harald established a small wooden church dedicated to the Holy Trinity. He was buried there after his death in 985 or 986. His son, Sweyn Forkbeard, may also have been buried at the church, although no surviving grave can be assigned to him.
At Christmas in 1026, Ulf the Earl, Cnut the Great’s brother-in-law and leading retainer, was killed on or near the site. The precise location remains uncertain. One tradition places the killing inside the church, while another places it at the royal farm. Ulf’s widow, Estrid Svendsdatter, demanded a weregild, a legally recognized compensation payment for a killing. This payment helped finance a stone church that replaced the wooden Trinity Church.
Roskilde had become an episcopal see before 1022, when Bishop Gerbrand was first recorded, although the precise date of its establishment is uncertain. Gerbrand had served Cnut the Great and had to swear allegiance to the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen before he could continue his work in Denmark. Cnut may have hoped to establish an archbishopric at Roskilde, but the Scandinavian archbishopric was assigned to Lund in 1103 or 1104.
Bishop Wilhelm began a travertine cathedral between 1060 and 1073, and his successor, Bishop Svend Nordmand, completed it around 1080. The building was a Romanesque basilica with heavy masonry, semicircular arches, a flat interior ceiling, and two towers beside the western entrance. A three-sided stone monastery stood to the north. Bishop Arnold later surrounded the complex with a wall intended to offer sanctuary.
A medieval legend connects Roskilde’s religious ambitions with Saint Lucius, a Christian martyr and bishop of Rome traditionally placed in the mid-third century. Two canons supposedly travelled to Rome in search of a relic, where Saint Lucius appeared and identified himself as the cathedral’s future patron. They were then said to have recovered his skull from Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. The date of its arrival is unknown, but the event was commemorated on 25 August. The relic is first mentioned in 1122 by Ælnoth, a monk of Odense, and the story may have supported Roskilde’s claim to an archbishopric.
The medieval brick cathedral
Soon after becoming Bishop of Roskilde in 1157, Absalon began a new cathedral around the existing travertine building. This arrangement allowed worship to continue during construction. The project was long associated mainly with Absalon, but later research identifies his successor, Bishop Peder Sunesen, as its principal initiator. Sunesen introduced major changes influenced by French Gothic architecture, creating a building that belongs to the transition between Romanesque and Gothic design.
When Absalon left the bishopric in 1191, the apse, its two levels, the choir towers, and part of the transept had been completed. Peder Sunesen removed the choir towers and reduced the width of the transept. The choir was finished and inaugurated in 1225, after which the travertine cathedral was demolished. Work on the nave continued for 55 years, slowed by limited funds, a shortage of brick kilns, and severe winters. Apart from the west towers, the cathedral was complete by 1280.
A fire in 1282 destroyed several houses belonging to the canons and damaged the interior, so work continued after the main construction had ended. Further chapels were added, and the two principal towers were completed in 1405. From the fifteenth century onward, the cathedral became the principal and official burial church of the Danish monarchy, encouraging repeated extensions and alterations for royal chapels.
Royal burials and later medieval disasters
Queen Margrethe I died in 1412 and was first buried at Sorø. In 1413, Bishop Peder Jensen Lodehat, her former chancellor and religious adviser, transferred her body to Roskilde, probably with the involvement of her adopted son, King Eric of Pomerania. Eric commissioned her sarcophagus and held a three-day funeral attended by nobles, the Archbishop of Lund, and the Danish bishops. Gifts were made to the cathedral’s 50 altars.
On 14 May 1443, a fire swept through Roskilde, destroying most of the city and all but three of the clergy’s houses. Heat cracked the cathedral’s windows and melted its lead roof, causing serious damage. Bishop Oluf Mortensen reconsecrated the church in 1463 after rebuilding supported by indulgences granted by the Danish bishops. Construction of Christian I’s Chapel of the Magi in the 1460s may also have contributed to the recovery.
Reformation and royal transformation
The Lutheran Reformation reached Roskilde in 1536. This sixteenth-century movement rejected papal authority in territories that adopted Lutheran churches, and in Denmark it transferred church property and administration to the Crown. Bishop Joachim Rønnow was imprisoned, the Catholic Diocese of Roskilde was abolished or transferred to Copenhagen, and Peder Palladius became superintendent and later bishop of Zealand. Hans Tausen came to Roskilde in 1538 to help convert clergy who resisted the change.
In 1540, episcopal property passed to the Crown, including a quarter of Zealand’s farms and 30 large estates. The cathedral consequently faced severe financial hardship. A gilded and jeweled wooden statue of Saint Lucius was confiscated, ending the prominent public role of an image associated with the cathedral’s medieval patron.
After the Reformation, Roskilde Cathedral served the ordinary Lutheran congregation and received new furnishings, particularly pews, while retaining its royal burial function. Christian IV endowed it with an altarpiece, royal box, pulpit, burial chapel, twin spires, and a large Renaissance entrance portal during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
The Treaty of Roskilde, which ended the Danish-Swedish War of 1657 to 1658, was signed in the cathedral on 26 February 1658. Swedish forces took Queen Margrethe I’s golden dress as booty, and it later passed to Uppsala Cathedral. In 1690, Christian V ordered the old Catholic choir cleared to make a crypt for his children by Sophie Amalie Moth. The alteration also moved the high altar to its present position.
Modern chapels, restoration, and continuing use
Construction of Frederick V’s Chapel began in 1774 after the Chapel of Our Lady was demolished. Financial difficulties halted the work in 1779. It resumed in 1820 under Christian Frederik Hansen and was completed in 1825. In 1806, the cathedral auctioned objects from its Catholic inventory. A large crucifix sold to a local craftsman was dismantled for firewood, revealing a small gold patriarchal cross containing a fragment believed to come from the True Cross. The Royal Art Collection, later the National Museum of Denmark, acquired it.
The Renaissance entrance portal was replaced in 1871 by a portal intended to harmonize with the exterior. The earlier portal was transferred to Holmen Church in Copenhagen, while the replacement was criticized as a poor imitation and later altered. Work on a fourth royal burial chapel began in 1915, started on site in 1919, and finished in 1924. Before its completion, Roskilde was again made the seat of a diocese.
On 27 August 1968, the Margaret Spire caught fire while restoration was nearing completion and threatened to collapse onto the choir. Civil-defence personnel and church staff protected the choir stalls, altar, and sarcophagi with damp fire blankets while the vaults were assessed. The fire was later associated with craftsmen smoking and using blowtorches in the loft despite a prohibition on heat sources.
Roskilde Cathedral and its surrounding area were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995 under criteria (ii) and (iv). The designation recognizes approximately 800 years of European architectural development and the cathedral’s place among Scandinavia’s early Gothic brick buildings, whose example helped spread Brick Gothic, the northern European Gothic tradition using brick as its main wall material.
The cathedral remains an active church and the official royal burial church. Since 1987 it has housed the Roskilde Cathedral Boys’ Choir and has hosted concerts. Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid were buried outside the cathedral in 1985 because Frederik wished to face Roskilde Fjord and the Christian IX Chapel had no remaining space. Maria Feodorovna, the Danish-born dowager empress of Russia, was placed in Christian IX’s Chapel after her death in 1928. Her coffin was moved to the crypt in 1957 and returned to Russia in September 2006 for reinterment beside Alexander III in Saint Petersburg.
Saint Andrew’s Chapel was redecorated by Peter Brandes in 2010. In 2013, Saint Bridget’s Chapel was modified for the planned tomb of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik. The completed sarcophagus was installed there, but Prince Henrik later chose cremation, with his ashes divided between the gardens of Frederiksborg Palace and the Danish sea. The sarcophagus is therefore intended to contain Queen Margrethe II’s remains.
Remains
Roskilde Cathedral is a large red-brick church approximately 83 to 86 metres long. Its listed exterior width is about 27 metres and its height is 75.7 metres. Inside, the building measures 83 metres in length, the three naves together are 24 metres wide, and the choir vault rises 25 metres above the floor. Romanesque and French Gothic elements form its medieval core, while Dutch Renaissance, Neoclassical, Byzantine Revival, and modern phases appear in later additions.
The cathedral core
The present church has a raised central nave, two lower aisles, and vaulted galleries at triforium level, meaning arcaded passages above the main interior arcade. The choir ends in a semicircular apse, the eastern end of the church. The former screen between the presbytery and the congregation has been removed, leaving the choir and altar in the central eastern part of the building.
The entire exterior is faced with red brick. Monks introduced brick manufacture into Denmark around 1160, and the material became central to the cathedral’s construction. Granite was initially planned for the foundations of the current church, but brick was adopted for most of the building after the foundations had begun.
Archaeological excavation in 1968 exposed the foundations of the earlier stone church and the later travertine cathedral at the same level. Their relationship remains uncertain, since the first stone church may have formed the base of the later building, or the two structures may have occupied the site separately.
West front and entrance
The west front has two main towers. The towers were completed in 1405, while Christian IV added twin spires in 1633. A central spire, known as the Margaret Spire, was built under the patronage of Eric of Pomerania after Margrethe I’s remains were transferred to Roskilde.
The sandstone entrance portal made in 1635 was replaced in 1871. The earlier portal was moved to Holmen Church, and the replacement was later modified. The main entrance now has a bronze door designed by Peter Brandes, installed in 2010.
Chapels and royal additions
Chapel of the Magi
Christian I founded the Chapel of the Magi under an instrument dated 28 April 1459. The Gothic chapel has two levels. The lower floor served as a royal funerary chapel, while the upper floor was a hall for the Fellowship of the Mother of God. Both levels rest on a central granite pillar called the King’s Pillar, where marks recording the heights of rulers were made. Christian I’s mark, indicating 219.5 centimetres, is considered erroneous; Peter the Great’s mark from 1716 measures 208 centimetres.
Christian I and Queen Dorothea are commemorated by simple stones because the chapel itself was intended as their funerary monument. The lower level also contains the empty monuments of Christian III and Frederick II, whose coffins lie beneath the floor. Christian III’s monument, made from red and black Belgian alabaster, was begun by Cornelis Floris in 1574 to 1575 and installed in 1580. Frederick II’s monument was made from the same materials by Geert van Egen between 1594 and 1598.
Christian IV’s Chapel
Christian IV’s Chapel is a Dutch Renaissance structure ordered in 1613 after the death of Queen Anne Catherine. Lorenz van Steenwinckel began its exterior in 1614, and Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger completed it in 1641. The red-brick building has a north-facing corbie-stepped gable, a stepped triangular gable, decorated with sandstone figures of Christian virtues, four putti holding a skull, scythe, inverted torch, and hourglass, and the king’s coat of arms.
Frederick V’s Chapel
Frederick V’s Chapel forms a Neoclassical complex built between 1774 and 1825. It consists of a vestibule with adjoining rooms, commonly called Christian VI’s Chapel, and a domed cruciform hall known as Frederick V’s Chapel. C. F. Harsdorff began the work, possibly drawing on sketches from his travels in Rome between 1762 and 1764. His pupil C. F. Hansen resumed construction in 1820. Whitewashed classical walls fill the interior, while the exterior remains red brick.
Christian IX’s Chapel
Christian IX’s Chapel was built from 1919 to 1924 as an extension of the northwestern porch. Designed by Andreas Clemmensen in Byzantine Revival style with Roman inspiration, it has a cruciform plan, gray walls, and a domed roof. Its departure from the cathedral’s predominant appearance prompted public debate.
Saint Andrew’s and Saint Bridget’s Chapels
Saint Andrew’s Chapel, built in 1396, and Saint Bridget’s Chapel, built in 1485, are on the north side and survive from the cathedral’s medieval chapels. Saint Andrew’s contains a small organ, a new altarpiece, and a screen created by Peter Brandes during the 2010 redecoration.
Saint Bridget’s retains Catholic-period furnishings, including a celebrant’s chair from around 1520, a chapter chest dated 1473, and the cathedral’s oldest gravestone, from around 1250. The chapel also contains the completed sarcophagus designed by Bjørn Nørgaard for Queen Margrethe II. Made of decorated glass and gilded bronze, it rests on Danish granite, Faroese basalt, and Greenlandic marble pillars, with three silver elephants and a sandstone base.
Frederik IX’s Burial Site
Frederik IX’s Burial Site is an uncovered brick octagon designed by Vilhelm Wohlert with Inger and Johannes Exner. It has a bronze gate by Sven Havsteen-Mikkelsen and a gravestone of Greenlandic granite by Erik Heide. The grave was permanently sealed after Queen Ingrid’s burial in 2000. Vines and wild plants from across Denmark grow within the grounds.
Interior furnishings and works of art
The Renaissance altarpiece was made in Antwerp around 1560 from oak and is almost entirely covered with gold leaf. It is a triptych, an artwork of three connected panels with movable wings, which could be opened or closed according to the liturgical calendar. The central and side panels depict scenes from the Passion of Christ, while the predella, the decorated lower section, shows the pregnancy of the Virgin Mary and the Nativity. The central panel measures 435 by 300 centimetres. Small burned marks represent either the arms of Antwerp or an artist’s approval mark. The altarpiece is first mentioned in Christian of Anhalt’s travel notebook of 1623, while stories of customs confiscation or purchase by Admiral Herluf Trolle remain legends.
The choir stalls date from the early fifteenth century and were carved in a Roskilde woodworking workshop. Bishop Jens Andersen Lodehat donated them, and an inscription commemorates Queen Margrethe I and Bishop Peder Jensen Lodehat. Their folding seats have misericords, small supports beneath the seats, and carved biblical scenes, with traces of their original paint. They have stood since the late seventeenth century in two groups of 24 on either side of the choir.
A metal baptismal font dated 1602 was donated by Frederik Godske and Jacop Wind. Four figures of the Evangelists support its base, which also carries the donors’ arms, the year of donation, and a Latin inscription from Mark 16:16. The Renaissance pulpit, completed in 1609 by Hans Brockman and donated by Christian IV, combines sandstone and alabaster with details in white Italian marble and black Belgian marble.
A mechanical astronomical clock from around 1500 hangs in the gallery above the main entrance. It indicates the relative positions of the sun and moon. Above it are Saint George attacking the dragon and two wooden figures, Kirsten Kimers and Per Døver, each with a bell. On the hour, Saint George strikes the dragon, Per Døver hits the larger bell, and Kirsten Kimers moves his head. The two latter figures date from the late fifteenth century, while Saint George is somewhat earlier. The present mechanism was made in 1741 by Copenhagen clockmaker Peter Mathiesen and is located in the south tower.
The main organ, also called the Raphaelis organ, incorporates elements from the mid-fifteenth century. Its gallery has Gothic reminiscences, and its surviving 1554 case belongs to the Renaissance organ built by Hermann Raphaëlis Rodensteen. Nicolaus Maas modernized it around 1611, followed by work from Gregor Mülisch in 1654 and the Botzen brothers in the 1690s. The richly carved Baroque facade includes angels, fantastic figures, Saints Peter and Paul, Frederick III’s monogram and arms, and verses from Psalm 150. Later alterations and enlargements were made between 1833 and 1991. The organ has 33 stops, while three smaller organs built by Marcussen and Son in 2000 serve the choir, positive, and practice functions.
A wooden oak sculpture of Saint John, about 193 centimetres high, dates from around 1500. Standing beside the entrance arch of Saint Bridget’s Chapel, it shows the Evangelist with long curled hair, a long robe, bare feet, a chalice, and an eagle on a book. The sculpture is attributed to Bernt Notke and Henning von der Heide.
Frescoes, relics, and royal burials
Frescoes survive from several periods. Paintings from around 1225 in the side aisles include Christ in Majesty. Sixteenth-century paintings on the choir pillars mark the church’s oldest tombs, while the Chapel of the Magi contains scenes from the life of Jesus, saints, the Three Magi, and the founders’ arms. Saint Andrew’s and Saint Bridget’s chapels contain numerous medieval frescoes, including a traditional green demon writing the names of people who arrive late for services.
Saint Lucius appears in an early twelfth-century carving made from walrus tusk and placed between the cathedral’s twin towers. The later wooden image of the saint was gilded and jeweled before being confiscated after the Reformation. The relic traditionally identified as Saint Lucius’s skull was also associated with the cathedral.
Royal burials occupy the choir, apse, piers, crypts, chapels, and the external burial site. Margrethe I lies behind the high altar. The apse contains Christopher III of Bavaria, Christian V with Queen Charlotte Amalie, and Frederick IV with Queen Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.
The piers beside the apse are associated with Harald Bluetooth, Sweyn II Estridsen, Estrid Svendsdatter, and Bishops Asser and William. Harald’s supposed grave in the northwestern pier has yielded no grave or remains. Sweyn II is associated with the southeastern pier. A DNA test in 2003 showed that remains traditionally identified as Estrid Svendsdatter belonged to a much younger woman, and the marker may instead refer to Margareta Hasbjörnsdatter, also known as Estrid.
The Chapel of the Magi contains Christian I and Queen Dorothea, Christian III and Queen Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg, and Frederick II and Queen Sophia of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. Frederick V’s Chapel contains Christian VI and Queen Sophie Magdalene, Frederick V and Queens Louise and Juliana Maria, Christian VII, Frederick VI and Queen Marie, Christian VIII and Queen Caroline Amalie, and Frederick VII.
Christian IV’s Chapel contains Prince Christian, Christian IV and Queen Anne Catherine, and Frederick III and Queen Sophie Amalie. Christian IX’s Chapel contains Christian IX and Queen Louise, Frederick VIII and Queen Lovisa, and Christian X and Queen Alexandrine. Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid lie at the external burial site. The crypts contain further members of the royal family, including Prince John, Maria of Bourbon-Orleans and her husband Valdemar, their sons Erik and Viggo, Viggo’s wife Eleanor Margaret Green, Prince William, Margrethe of Denmark, Christian of Denmark, and other relatives.
