Christiansfeld

	Christiansfeld
	Christiansfeld
	Christiansfeld
Basic data
State :	Denmark
Region :	Syddanmark
Municipality ; (since 2007) :	Kolding
Sogn :	Tyrstrup Sogn
Coordinates :	55 ° 21 ′ N , 9 ° 29 ′ E Coordinates: 55 ° 21 ′ N , 9 ° 29 ′ E
Founded:	1773
Population : ; (2020)	3,016
Postal code :	6070
	; Tyrstrup Kirke (built in 1863), parish church of the Danish People's Church

Christiansfeld in 1780

The central nave of Brødremenighedens Kirke corresponds to the church original from 1777

Christiansfeld is a place in Sønderjylland , Denmark . It lies between the towns of Kolding and Haderslev (Hadersleben) and has been part of the Kolding municipality since 2007 . From 1970 to 2007 it was the capital of the Christiansfeld commune .

Due to its development as a founding or planned city , Christiansfeld has an architecturally cohesive cityscape and is a tourist center of the region. Because of the exceptionally well-preserved settlement of the Moravian Brethren , the place has had the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 4, 2015 .

history

The foundation of the city of Christiansfeld goes back to the Moravian Brethren. The Danish King Christian VII visited Zeist in the Netherlands in 1768 , where he met craftsmen and traders from the Moravian Brethren who were renowned for their hard work. Contacts between the movement's founder, Count Zinzendorf , and the Danish court went back even further. Because Zinzendorf, who was related to Queen Sophie Magdalene von Brandenburg-Kulmbach , was on the occasion of the coronation of Christian's grandfather, Christian VI. , Was in Copenhagen in 1731 . Neither Christian nor his secret cabinet minister Johann Friedrich Struensee , who had accompanied him on this trip as his personal physician and who from 1770 ran the affairs of government largely independently, were supporters of pietism . Nevertheless, in 1771 the king allowed the Moravians to build a settlement on his domain Tyrstrup . It was one of the last decrees that Struensee signed before his arrest in early 1772, and one of the few that were still implemented after his fall.

Tyrstrup belonged to the Duchy of Schleswig . Christian VII, who was also Duke of Schleswig, did not want the Moravians to settle on Danish territory in the narrower sense in order to avoid conflicts with the Evangelical Lutheran state church . The city was founded on April 1, 1773. On this day the foundation stone of the first house at Lindenstrasse 17 was laid. The new settlers from the German-speaking area called their new colony "Christiansfeld" out of gratitude to the king - German was court language at the time alongside French. The usual name would have been Christiansmark . Mark means field in Danish and was the common ending in the historical Kingdom of Denmark and in northern Schleswig.

Christiansfeld got a unique administrative position. The place did not belong to the surrounding community Tyrstrup . The administration was rather the responsibility of the Brethren itself. However, the population was subject to the judicial district of Tyrstrup harde . The place had the status of a patch without being officially awarded. The Christiansfeld citizens also received numerous privileges, such as duty-free. They built their houses on a baroque, right-angled street network, with an avenue of lime trees as the main axis. A house for brothers and sisters was built, in which the unmarried members of the congregation lived separately by gender until their wedding, a widow house, a church (consecrated in 1777), a girls and boys school, the pharmacy, a syringe house and the pastorate.

The Moravian church in Christiansfeld is, like all of their churches, of striking simplicity. The room is completely white, contains hardly any jewelry and is only lit with candles to this day. It is the largest non-columnar church in Denmark. The simple lifestyle of the Brethren is reflected in the architecture of Christiansfeld. People are buried separately according to sex in the cemetery, all graves face east. The tombstones on the idyllic Gottesacker have been preserved for centuries. They are unadorned and uniform, as an expression of the equality of all people in death.

The Church of the Moravian Brethren
The Church of the Brethren, rear view
The Church of the Brethren is kept quite simple inside.
The church is still only lit with candles.
Old tombstone on the Herrnhuter Gottesacker

The later built Tyrstrupkirke from 1863 dominates the townscape of Christiansfeld more than the Brødremenighedens Kirke

Although Christiansfeld did not have its own land, the place developed quickly due to its commercial privileges and experienced an economic boom, much to the displeasure of the merchants in the nearby Hadersleben. Above all, Spielwerg's tobacco factory became known. In addition, gloves were sewn, candles drawn, soaps cooked and food produced in Christiansfeld. With the surplus, the committed Christians supported the Moravian Mission among the slaves in the Danish West Indies , in the Caribbean and among the Inuit in the former colony of Greenland . To this day, the Moravian Brethren Church in Christiansfeld is involved in aid projects and missionary work on other continents. In the long term, the Moravian Brethren in Christiansfeld also had an impact on Protestant Christians in Scandinavia . To this day it is a living church with a great tradition. Several missions and Christian aid organizations have their Danish home offices in the village. Parts of the Moravian craftsmanship, such as the tiled stove construction, are still shown on site today.

On July 18, 1864 at 3 a.m., the armistice document between the warring parties Prussia , Austria and Denmark in the German-Danish War was signed by Lieutenant Colonel Gustav von Stiehle and Colonel Heinrich Kauffmann (Danish Chief of Staff ) in the Brødremenighedens Hotel (Hotel of the Brethren) . The reason for this choice of location was the close proximity of the Prussian headquarters. Two days later, the armistice came into effect on July 20, 1864 at 12 noon. On October 30, 1864, the war ended with the Peace of Vienna . After the end of the war, the Duchy of Schleswig fell to Prussia. Since eight neighboring communities in the north remained with the Kingdom of Denmark due to an exchange of territory, Christiansfeld was now close to the new border, the river Königsau . The Prussian municipal code of 1869 confirmed Christiansfeld's status as a patch . It was able to hold this title, which is typical for smaller towns in Schleswig, even after it was rejoined to Denmark in 1920 and until 1970, although this form of municipality was otherwise only known as handelsplads in the rest of Denmark .

In 1970, the smallest place in North Schleswig was combined not only with the surrounding municipality of Tyrstrup, but also with the parishes of Fjelstrup , Bjerning , Hjerndrup , Stepping , Aller and the municipalities of Hejls , Vejstrup and Taps , which were separated from the Hadersleben district in 1864 , to form a municipality that bears the name of Fleckens took over. Since 2007, the first three parishes have belonged to Haderslev due to a referendum in 2005, all the others to Kolding.

Townscape

Typical Moravian architectural style (18th century)

Old pharmacy in Christiansfeld

Old cast iron window

The settlement in front of Zeist Castle, built in 1748 in the Netherlands by the Herrnhutern in the Netherlands, built in 1686 in Zeist , which King Christian VII met during a trip to the Netherlands in 1768, served as a model for the founding of the town in Christiansfeld . Christiansfeld is therefore not a grown, but a planned place, which becomes clear, among other things, by the dead straight, right-angled streets. Most of the Moravian buildings are well preserved and shape the cityscape.

The buildings are mostly made of light-colored bricks, with linden trees along the three main streets. Between the Norderstrasse and Lindenstrasse is the central square with the prayer room of the Brethren and the fountain, the actual landmark of the place.

In 2019, the responsible authority in Kolding approved the renaming of the church square (centrale kirkeplads) in Christiansfeld in Grev Zinzendorf Plads . Coming from the German Saxony, Count Zinzendorf is generally referred to as the founding father of the Moravian Brethren.

To the northeast of the town center is the cemetery called Gottesacker . In 2002 a Danish fund donated 30 million Danish kroner to initiate a comprehensive restoration of the listed houses of the Brethren in the center of the village. New buildings in Christiansfeld still have to be built with light-colored bricks to match the cityscape. This ensures that the unique historical cityscape is preserved.

Economy and Transport

Food manufacturing companies are located in Christiansfeld, as are metal processing companies, freight forwarders and logistics companies. Trade and handicrafts are sufficiently represented for the size of the town.

Christiansfeld is located on trunk road 170 between Hadersleben and Kolding, the old north-south main road in Jutland. The E 45 motorway , at which Christiansfeld has its own junction, has been running six kilometers further west since the 1970s .

Christiansfelder Kleinbahn 1899–1932

Christiansfeld had a railway connection on the Hadersleben circuit . This connection to the town of Christiansfeld, located north of Hadersleben, only existed until 1932, while the Haderslev Amts Jernbaner still connected the district town of Hadersleben with the town of Toftlund to the southwest until 1937. The narrow-gauge railway ended in Christiansfeld. After 1920, the line was not linked to the Koldinger Kleinbahn in Taps, five kilometers away. The plan to move the main line south from Kolding via Christiansfeld-Hadersleben was rejected. The branch line, which was already built with lots of bends, became unprofitable and could not long withstand competition from the road, which was massively expanded soon after 1920. The most important public transport connection in local transport is bus line 34 from Kolding to Hadersleben (every hour). The Vejle-Sonderburg express bus (line 900X) has its own stop on the town's bypass. Billund International Airport is 60 kilometers away.

Special

Christiansfeld is also famous for its honey cake (Danish: Honningkager ), the recipe of which the settlers brought back from their homeland in the 18th century. The history of the honey cake is almost as old as the history of the city. The baker Christian F. Rasch first made dough for honey cakes in 1783. Today you can still buy delicious honey cakes in various shapes and colors in the bakeries in Christiansfeld.

Christinero (Christinenruh)

The idyllic old Christinero Park

The chapel in the Christinero

Near Christiansfeld to the west is the small, protected park Christinero, which belongs to the Brethren. It takes its name from the chamberlain Christina Friederica von Holstein (1741-1812), who had the park laid out. At her request and with royal approval, her final resting place is located in the approximately 2 hectare complex. She had her favorite horse buried here. In the grove with a stream and two idyllic ponds you will find a pretty little pavilion, which she called “Mine Tanker” (My thoughts), a kitchen house and a chapel with her grave. The chamberlain 's deeply religious way of life and her charity left traces beyond her death.

What is special about the Christinero is that the missionaries of the Moravian Brethren have been bringing home seeds and saplings of exotic trees that have been raised in the small park from their areas of operation on other continents since the end of the 18th century. Therefore you will find ancient, exotic trees with enormous trunk girths there. Unfortunately, a hurricane on December 3rd, 1999 felled some of the great exotic species. Nevertheless, the charm of the idyllic park has been preserved to this day. In the meantime, the forest has been reforested with the help of many hands.

The largest block barn in Denmark, built in 1668, is right next to Christinero in the garden of the old rectory. This special type of barn in a simple block construction could easily be dismantled, transported and set up again at another location. The block barn in Christiansfeld is well preserved, it is still in its first location. The Christinero Park and the block barn are listed buildings.

sons and daughters of the town

Carl Abraham Mankell (1802–1868), Swedish composer
Gustaf Adolf Mankell (1812–1880), Swedish organist and composer
Gerhard Meyer (1900–1984), German historian, librarian, director of the Lower Saxony State Library
Sedin Alic (* 1989), Bosnian-Danish football player

literature

Jørgen Bøytler, Jørgen Toft Jensen: Christiansfeld, life and houses . Det Danske Idéselskab, 2005, ISBN 87-990510-0-1 .
Per Olov Enquist : Lewis Journey . Fischer, 2004, ISBN 3-596-15997-0 (tells how the Pentecostal movement is based on Herrnhutism; a funeral in Christiansfeld is the framework).