Vor Frue Kirke

Vor Frue Kirke is the cathedral of Copenhagen, and a church has stood on this ground since 1209. The first one rose in limestone at the town's highest point, consecrated by Peder Sunesøn, successor to Bishop Absalon. The University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, began in the cathedral school, and the dean of the day served as its chancellor. Royals used it too: Margrethe, the future Queen Margrethe the First, married here in 1363.

Fire has shaped the place again and again. A blaze in 1314 forced a complete rebuild, this time in brick instead of limestone. Citizens stormed the church in 1530, and after Denmark turned Lutheran in 1536, services here set the pattern for worship nationwide. The great fire of 1728 struck next, and the British bombardment of 1807 destroyed it again. Their gunners had used the tall spire as a sighting point, and when it was hit, its collapse set the church alight. C. F. Hansen, then Denmark's leading architect, answered with the neoclassical, Greco-Roman style of the day. Frederik the Sixth laid the foundation stone in 1817, and the consecration followed in 1829.

Inside, Bertel Thorvaldsen's work meets you at every turn. His Christ above the altar, backed by a gilded wall, is the most famous piece. Twelve apostles line the nave, Peter with the keys, Paul with the sword. At the font waits his baptismal angel, a personal gift to the church. The funerals of Kierkegaard, Hans Christian Andersen and Thorvaldsen himself took place here. Regular services, weddings, concerts and the evening gatherings known as Night Church keep it a living church. Up in the 60-metre tower hang four bells. Stormklokken, at four tons, is the largest in Denmark. The little bell rung at morning services, cast in 1490, is the country's oldest.