Silted up church

The whitewashed tower of the silted up church

The church tower served as a navigation aid for shipping in the 19th century.

Painting of the Skagen Church by Johannes Wilhjelm with the original title Skagens gamle kirke (1910, Skagens Museum ).

The silted up church of St. Laurentius ( Danish den tilsandede kirke ) is a much-visited attraction southwest of Skagen in northern Jutland , Denmark . The nave was demolished in 1805 due to heavy silting. However, the church tower was preserved - initially as a navigation mark - and can be visited.

The original construction

The Skagen Church of St. Laurentius was built from brick towards the end of the 13th century . It was in the monastery format tile installed, so larger than later usual. They were imported from the Netherlands and Lübeck , maybe even from Scotland . With 38 pews, the church was the largest in Vendsyssel at the time . The Gothic nave was given a stepped gable , a sacristy, vestibule and vaulted ceiling. A late Gothic altar with a wrought iron grille was also part of the furnishings. The cemetery surrounding the church was enclosed with a brick wall.

Silting up

Skagen had around 2,500 inhabitants at that time. At the time of construction, the church was surrounded by fields and meadows. Around 1770, the drifting sand of the shifting dunes reached the church and initially gathered at the cemetery wall. After a violent storm in May 1775, the entrance to the church could only be kept free by constantly shoveling sand. Therefore, the congregation gave up the church in 1795. The nave was torn down, but by royal decree the tower was kept as a sea mark. It has been whitewashed for better visibility . In 1816 the lighthouse office took over the tower. It has been a listed building since 1903 and is looked after by the National Museum. Under the sand are probably still the floor of the church and grave slabs of ecclesiastical and secular dignitaries of that time.

The whereabouts of the inventory

In 1810 most of the inventory was auctioned. Only a few parts could be located in later years: the votive ship in Århus Cathedral probably came from here. Two candlesticks, the baptismal font and a bell are in Skagen's new church from 1841. The broken stones were used in Skagen houses, e.g. B. in the villa of the painter Laurits Tuxen .

In the literature

Hans Christian Andersen visited the church in August 1859 and condensed his impressions into the story "A story from the sand dunes" ( En Historie fra Klitterne , 1859).