Elsinore Cathedral/St. Olav's Church

Helsingør Dom Kirke / Sankt Olai Kirke tårnet

Facts

From parish church to cathedral

The oldest Sankt Olai Kirke (St. Olav's Church) in Helsingør (Elsinore) was an ordinary parish church. A rather simple brick church dating from the early 13th century, in the 1400s, it was extended to a 55-metre, three-nave brick church with a tower and spire. North of the church, the feudal lord of Kronborg Castle, Johan Oxe, had Trefoldighedskapellet (Trinity Chapel) built in circa 1470. The church was not completed until 1559. The town of Elsinore was fast expanding, especially after the lucrative Sound Dues were introduced, and so the church too needed to be enlarged. In 1962, the Diocese of Elsinore was established, with St. Olav's as its cathedral.

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A god-awful mess in the cemetery

Story written by Peter Pentz

Time / Periode 1200

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16th century Elsinore had outgrown itself, and the cemetery of St. Olav's Church was soon overcrowded. The site was surrounded by old townhouses and could not be expanded. A new cemetery was established away from the church, but the old one continued to be used. The old houses all had gates or back doors giving on to the cemetery which saw heavy use. Horse-drawn carts and carriages rumbled across the cemetery disrupting the divine service. The residents tipped rubbish out of their houses. Early in the morning, hens and geese and even cattle were let out into the cemetery, so they could forage in the rubbish tips and elsewhere. Once, a dead horse had to be removed, another time, a pig was found rooting around in a child's corpse. And so, there was no shortage of life among the dead in Elsinore.