Østerlars round church
Posted by: 
Yehaah
N 55° 10.289 E 014° 57.700
33U E 497558 N 6113875
Østerlars Church, located 5 km south of Gudhjem on the Danish island of Bornholm, is the largest and oldest of the island's four round churches.
Waymark Code: WMAHQ4
Location: Denmark
Date Posted: 01/18/2011
Views: 38
It is a popular tourist attraction with some 12,000 visitors a year. Built in about 1160, it was dedicated to St. Lawrence. It consists of an apse, an oval chancel, a large round nave and has three storeys. There is evidence the church was once fortified, the top storey serving as an open shooting gallery.
The building is one of Denmark's oldest Romanesque churches. On the basis of coins dated 1157 found in the floor, the date of construction was probably around 1160. The fieldstone wall stands on foundations of Bornholm limestone. The double-arched apse bears similarities to that in Lund Cathedral. The round nave has an external diameter of 16 meters. In its centre there is a large round hollow column, six meters wide. An opening, known as the oven, leads into a small room inside the column.
Originally there were small Romanesque windows but these were enlarged after the Reformation. During the 16th century, a number of pillars were added to support the outer wall. The conical roof was added in the 17th century. The porch is from 1870.
The bell tower stands separately from the church in the churchyard. There are two runestones, one inside the portch (c. 1100) and another outside (c.1070).
The church's central column is decorated with frescos or kalkmalerier from 1350 showing biblical scenes from the Annunciation through to the Passion, ending with Day of Judgment where Jesus judges mankind. Many of the naked figures are sent to hell, symbolized by a huge dragon. They were probably painted some 140 years after the church was built.
The frescos, which had been hidden with limewash since the Reformation, were uncovered in 1882. They were first restored by Jacob Kornerup in 1889, then in 1960 by G.M. Lind. In 2005, the National Museum of Denmark carried out further restoration work.
The pulpit is from 1595. The carved altarpiece is from c. 1600.
Erling Haagensen, co-author of The Templars' Secret Island, believes there is a connection between the round churches of Bornholm and the Knights Templar. He believes there are similarities between the geometrical precision of the churches' locations and those of churches in Rennes-le-Château in France. He concludes that Østerlars, and the other round churches, could have been used as supply stores for the crusades.
Building Materials: Stone
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