Lyngby Church Marker 8.

Lyngby

The oldest, central part of Lyngby Church dates from the middle of the 12th century. The walls are of rough-hewn granite stone and the corners of limestone. The church had small windows in Romanesque style high in the walls, which can still be recognized on the inside walls above the arches. There was probably once a narrower chancel built in the same way east of the preserved nave of this church.

The lower three floors of the tower were built on the north side of the nave in the 14th century. The unusual location may have been chosen because the distance between the church's western gable and the slope was too small to hold a tower. The lower, curved floor of the tower was used as a porch and access to the third floor, where the bells were, was by an external stair.

The church was rebuilt and enlarged to its present size during the second half of the 15th century. Red brick was used for the extensions. The west end of the church was extended by three metres and the walls were raised slightly. The tower was increased from three to five storeys and the bells were moved up one floor, so they could be heard over the raised ridge.

A vault was built on the south side, across from the tower and the interior of the church was extended by three arches. The chancel to the east was replaced by an extension of the nave and fitted with two vaults. The five arches were provided with murals. The chapel, which has been the church's transept since 1763, has also an added undecorated arch. The south wall has large Gothic-style windows in the in the middle of each arch.

Another chapel that is now used as a vestry was added on the north side in 1765.

The church was restored in 1914-16 and the old lead roof that can be seen on older photos (from about 1860) was replaced by tiles. The windows were made into uniformly pointed arches and modifications were made to the church's interior.

The frescoes on the arches originate from the latest phase of Catholicism in Denmark, around 1500. They are not excellent, but typical of their time and preserved in all five arches. They show motifs from both the Old and New Testament and numerous Catholic saints.

The main scenes fill an entire vault, the others only a half. The main motifs of the murals is Jesus' suffering and death, His resurrection and the judgment of mankind; Jesus carrying his cross to Golgotha, the crucifixion on Golgotha and the resurrected Jesus on God's lap and Doomsday. While walking back from the altar, you may notice in the vault at the end the seven deadly sins as a predator who tries to swallow a naked man. A dangerous world awaits outside the church!

In 1602 the chancel was completed by a large altarpiece with Christian IV and his Queen Anna Katrine's initials that has now been dismantled. The pulpit from 1598 is in the middle of the church, so it can be seen from the side the nave. It is decorated with figures of the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Pews are decorated with angel heads in the Baroque style from the period 1646-56.

The tomb to the south was included in the church in 1763 probably because of the increasing population in the parish. Until Taarbæk Church was built in 1863, galleries in the church were needed to accommodate the congregation. The royal palace from Sorgenfri had a gallery at the south wall with entrance by an outside stairway through one of the windows. The galleries were removed during the restoration in 1914-16.

The church contains a number of epitaphs and paintings, including an epitaph from 1649 to Johan and Maren Rosenmeier from Brede gunpowder mill and two large paintings of the church's most famous pastors, the Grundtvigian preacher Peter Rørdam and his nephew, a church historian Holger Frederik Rørdam.

The old cemetery surrounding the church contains a large number of funerary monuments of ancient and rare types.

Marker 9