The sand-covered church

Facts

Drifting sand eats everything

By Bo Fritzbøger, Dr.phil. (9 stories)

A church spire rises from the sand in Skagen dune plantation. The ruins of the old church have fallen prey to the drifting dunes. As in many Jutland parishes, the church was built in an isolated location. Throughout the 18th century, it gradually became covered by sand, until finally the congregation could no longer use it. It was closed in 1795 and in 1810 the body of the church was taken down. A couple of decades later, a new church was built in Skagen Østerby. Today, only the original spire remains. And there it stands as the dunes grow bigger and bigger.

Public place

Selected entry

A story from the dunes

Story written by Bo Fritzbøger

Time / Periode 1700 1795

0 comments 1 recommendations

" In his story from the dunes (En historie fra klitterne) from 1859, Hans Christian Andersen describes how his main character, Jorgen, is buried in the church precisely as it disappears into the sand: ”Jorgen could not be found either at Skagen or amidst the sand-hills, where every search was made for him. […] his body lay entombed in a large sarcophagus in the church itself; During the storm God had cast earth upon his coffin, heavy piles of quicksand had accumulated there, and lie there even now. The sand had covered the lofty arches , sand- thorns and wild roses grow over the church, where the wayfarer struggles on towards its spire, which towers above the sand, an imposing tombstone over the grave." But the grave was actually empty. "