Ørslev Church

Facts

John the Baptist was a box-office hit

Ørslev Church on South Zealand was built of granite. The choir and nave are Romanesque. The vaulting, tower and side chapels for the choir were added in early Gothic times. The choir was later extended to the east, so the church is now shaped like a cross. It is unusually tall and probably once had two storeys. Its impressive murals date back to circa 1350 and show a chain dance and a lord of the manor presenting a model of a church to Saint John the Baptist, to whom the church is consecrated. In the Middle Ages, Ørslev Church was one of the richest in the area. This is probably thanks to the income from a spring named after John north of the church.

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Paying through the nose to kiss John's bones

Story written by Peter Pentz

Time / Periode 1150 1250

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Ørslev Church is famous for its medieval dish featuring a carved wooden head and three bones. It is now at the National Museum. In 1755, the vicar described how just three generations before the dish with the head and bones had been carried in a procession to Ørslev's spring on Midsummer Day. Anyone who put money in the dish was permitted to kiss the bones and bought absolution. Those who donated food for the vicar in the dish were palmed off with a blessing. The bones were real human bones. People must have thought they were really John's bones. They were leg bones alright, but unless Saint John had three legs, they belonged to at least two different individuals.