Original subtitles

The Danish Film Museum presents:

THE VILLAGE CHURCH

In Denmark there are more than 2,000 village churches.

They are almost all between 700 and 800 years old.

25 generations have come and gone in them,

through changing times, in joy and in sorrow.

Large forests provided the oak for the first Danish churches.

They consisted of a small choir to the east and a nave to the west.

We only have a few planks left of those churches,

but in other Nordic countries mediaeval wood churches still exist.

The congregation assembled in the nave.

In the choir, the priest celebrated Holy Mass at the altar.

Across Denmark, huge boulders lay spread out after the ice age.

From them, parish churches were built in the 12th century,

when Christianity prevailed.

Building in stone was something quite new.

The house of God should last for eternity.

Churches were built in the Romanesque style with round arches

during this first great church-building period.

Almost all old churches still have stone walls from that time.

The windows were small and placed high up the walls,

close to the raftered ceiling.

They gave only a very subdued light, but more was not needed,

because when the congregation sang, it was without a hymn book.

Otherwise, they were just spectators in the audience.

Think of the day when you were baptised.

For then you promise

to honour and worship Christ,

King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,

and you promise to renounce the devil and all his works.

The font was by the door, for baptism was the door to the Kingdom of God.

Some of the oldest stone churches are built from travertine.

It is also called ''froth stone'', because it looks like froth.

Some Romanesque stone churches have a tower to the west.

Some even have twin towers.

To the east they have the round choir.

The choir vault, just like the walls, was a picture Bible of frescoes.

Here, the congregation could see stories from the Bible and legends.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I take you to be my wedded wife.

I take you to be my wedded husband.

The towers stand mighty and strong.

From them, then as now, the bells called to service,

or they tolled when there was a death or a funeral, or in case of danger.

During periods of unrest, the church was used as a refuge.

People left their houses built of mud

and sought protection behind the heavy stone walls.

From around 1250, a new style appeared in Denmark.

It was the Gothic style with pointed arches

and soaring lines.

Through the large lancet windows, light flooded inside.

The nave was also completely transformed in the Gothic style.

The old wooden ceilings were replaced by brick vaults

and the slender, soaring ribs met in pointed arches.

Some of the churches acquired two naves

where the old Romanesque naves were so broad

that they could not be covered by one line of vaults.

Then central columns were raised, with two sets of vaults at the walls.

Under these vaults, the church lived its life,

watching over people from baptism to death,

and from death into eternity.

The art of burning bricks came to the country around 1160.

The large, red mediaeval bricks were used more and more,

particularly for all the Gothic additions.

Churches were given towers and sacristies,

porches and chapels,

and a few large village churches acquired three naves.

The church interiors were greatly influenced by the Reformation,

even if some of the old furniture was preserved.

The font was preserved, but a basin of pewter or brass was placed on top,

and from then on, children were baptised as they are today.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Also preserved was the carved grouping of the crucified Christ

with Mary and John at the foot of the cross.

The finely carved altarpiece was also allowed to stay put

as long as it was of a general nature.

Most of the Catholic images of saints were removed.

The pulpit was placed in the middle of the church.

Preaching became one of the most important parts of the service,

and during the long sermons the congregation had to sit

so the church was filled with church pews.

Let us not rely on deeds

or on the constraints of the law,

but solely on the word of the Gospel, which comforts the conscience.

Through life's vicissitudes, the church provided a focus.

The peasants got together here when the secular authorities called

for a parish meeting in the vestry.

It has come to our notice

that there is much idolatry in the parish

with geese, lambs and chickens being sacrificed

according to ancient customs.

The village church is today the oldest building in the parish,

but is not the same as when it was built.

Both the Catholic and Protestant tradition have shaped it.

800 years of Denmark's history have left their mark on its churches.

Through the ages, so much has been added and changed

that we have to remove the additions in order to see the Romanesque core.

The north chapel is the most recent addition, built around 1600.

The sacristy is the next most recent.

It goes back to Gothic times, to the end of the Middle Ages.

The porch is a little older, but it is still Gothic.

The Corbie gables on the nave and the choir are from the same time,

as is the tower.

And then we are left with the oldest stone church,

the small Romanesque building with only a choir and a nave.

Inside the church, we can also go back through the ages.

The altarpiece is from Protestant times

and in the style of the older absolute monarchy.

The pulpit is from the time of Christian IV.

The crucifix and the figures are now placed on the choir wall,

but were placed over the choir arch in Catholic times.

The Virgin Mary with the Christ child once stood on a Catholic side altar.

The font is Romanesque, from the earliest time of the church.

But only a few steps away is the modern organ.

Built on the Rock the Church doth stand

Even when steeples are falling

Crumbled have spires in every land

Bells are still chiming and calling

Calling the young and old to rest

But above all the soul distressed

Longing for rest everlasting.