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St. Peter's Church
St. Peter's Church
St Petri Kirke
Location	Larslejsstræde 11 ; Copenhagen
Country	Denmark
Denomination	Church of Denmark
Previous denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	www.sankt-petri.dk
History
Status	Parish church
Architecture
Style	Gothic with Baroque features; Rococo (spires)
Completed	Church: 15th century; Spire: 1757
Specifications
Number of spires	1
Spire height	78 metres (256 ft)
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)	Rajah Scheepers
Laity
Organist(s)	Mark Baumann

St. Peter's Church (Danish: St. Petri Kirke, German: St.-Petri-Kirche) is the parish church of the German-speaking community in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is situated at the corner of Nørregade and Sankt Peders Stræde in the city's Latin Quarter. Built as a single-nave church in the mid-15th century, it is the oldest building in central Copenhagen. It is also notable for its extensive complex of sepulchral chapels.

History

Medieval parish church

St. Peter's Church was in the Middle Ages one out of four Catholic parish churches in Copenhagen.^[1] It is first mentioned in 1304 but was most likely founded in the 12th century. The first church burnt down in 1380 but was rebuilt shortly thereafter.

After the Reformation

After the Reformation the church building was for a while used as a canon and bell foundry.^[2]

German church

In 1585, Frederick II presented St. Peter's Church to his German-speaking subjects. The building was renovated by Hans van Steenwinckel the Elder who also added a gablet upper floor to the uncompleted tower, which was however replaced by a spire in the 17th century. The church became a centre for Copenhagen's political, economic, cultural and military elite, which, like the Royal Court, relied on German for everyday use.

The rapidly growing congregation made it necessary to expand the church in several stages. Christian IV added a northern transept in 1631 and a southern transept in 1634.^[3] Just 60 years later, Christian V extended the north transept with a further three severies. The distinctive sepulchral chapels arose between 1648 and 1740.

After the Fire of 1728

St. Peter's Church was severely damaged in the Copenhagen Fire of 1728. The interior was lost to the flames but the outer walls were left intact and the church could fairly easily be rebuilt by Johan Cornelius Krieger. The church was first given a short lantern spire which was replaced by the current copper-clad spire in 1756-57. The spire survived the British bombardment during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807.

With the increasing tensions between Denmark and Germany in the middle of the 18th century, culminating in the First Schleswig War from 1848 to 1850, the church lost its special position and therefore members, prestige and financial support.

As time passed, it became an impossible task for the congregation to maintain the large building complex, and in 1994 the state took over the church back into its care. It was transferred to the Palaces and Properties Agency, which in the late 90s carried out extensive restoration and partial restructuring under the direction of architect and professor Hans Munk Hansen.^[4]

Architecture

St. Peter's Church was originally built as a single-nave church but with Christian IV's addition of the northern and southern transepts, it received the cruciform layout which characterizes it today. Most of the church, including the nave, the choir and the lower part of the tower, dates back to the middle of the 15th century.^[5] The main entrance is located in the southern transept and is marked by a richly carved Baroque portal from 1731, carved by the sculptor Diderik Gercken. The spire from 1756 to 1757 is built in the Rococo style to the design of carpenter

Sepulchral chapels

The church has an extensive complex of sepulchral chapels which was commenced in 1643 and not completed until 1681-83 when Hans van Steenwinckel the Youngest completed a three wing chapel towards Larslejstræde. The complex contains numerous tombs and epitaphs of important German families in Denmark. Beneath the tombs contain the sarcofages of the most distinguished family members while other coffins are placed in three to four layers in underground crypts.^[6]

Many of the chapels are made by Johannes Wiedewelt and Andreas Weidenhaupt. Amongst the chapels lies the idyllic 'herb garden' (Danish: urtegården).^[7]

Interments

The interments include:

Gottfried Becker (1767-1845), royal pharmacist
Charlotte Dorothea Biehl (1731–1788), playwright
Conrad Biermann von Ehrenschild (1629–1698), civil servant
Christian Brandt
Peter Brandt and Abigael Marie Brandt, née von Stöcken
Robert Colnet
Peter Cramer (1726–1782), painter
Friederich Ehbisch (1672-1748), sculptor
Valentin von Eickstedt (1669-1718), officer
Christoffer Gabel (1617–1673), statesman
Friedrich Carl von Gram
Christian Gyldenløve (moved 1734 from Vor Frue Kirke)
Wolfgang Haffner
Nicolaj Helt
Catharine Marie von Holstein
Hans Friedrich von Holstein
Johan Georg Holstein
Albrecht Itzen
Johan Boye Junge
Kristian Kongstad
Abraham Lehn
Christian Lente
Theodor Lente
Niels Banner Matthisen
Reinhold Meier
Wigand Michelbecker
Gerhard Morell
Carl von Müller
Otto Frederik Müller
Bernhard Møllmann
Christian Nerger
Abraham Pelt
Christian Siegfried von Plessen
Carl Adolph von Plessen
Marcus Gerhard Rosencrone
Ernst Schimmelmann
Johan Sigismund Schulin
Henrik Stampe
possibly Johann Friedrich Struensee (since the 1920s)
Sir Walter Titley, British ambassador to Danmark
Lorenz Tuxen
Hans von Voscamp
Georg Wilhelm Wahl
Jørgen Walter /died 1670), military officer
Andreas Weyse
Daniel Benjamin Weyse
Just Wiedewelt (1677–1757), sculptor

Churchyard

Ernst Henrich Berling (1708–1750), printer and publisher
Christian van Bracht (c. 1637 – 1720), court artist
Johan van Bracht (died 1710), court artist
Frederik Christian van Bracht (1720–1759), painter
Constantin Brun (1746–1836), businessman
Friederike Brun (1765–1835), writer and salonist
Johannes Gottlieb de Bötticher (1676–1762), physician
Nicolai Eigtved (1701–1754), architect
Christian Ulrik Foltmar (c. 1716 - 1794) wallpaper weaver, painter of miniatures and organist
Heinrich Egidius Gercken (died 1774), court gardener
Jonas Haas (1720–1775), printmaker
Johann Christopher Heimbrod (1724– 1733), sculptor. stone carver and stucco artist
Johann Friedrich Hännel (c. 1710 – 1761), sculptor
Juliane Marie Jessen (1760–1832), author and translator
Martin Lehmann (1775–1856), civil servant
Ernst Heinrich Løffler (1723–1796), painter
Balthasar Münter (1735–1793), priest
Friederich Münter (1761–1830), scholar, professor of theology
Carl Probsthayn (1770–1818), painter
Johan Henrich Schønheyder
Johan Martin Schønheyder
Johan Adam Sturmberg
Johan Christopher Sturmberg
Martin Zumpe (c. 1697 – 1753), master builder

St. Peter's Church today

The church is today owned by the Danish Palaces and Properties Agency but on a day-to-day basis the church is still used actively by the German-speaking Evangelical-Lutheran congregation with 900 members as part of the Danish National Church. The congregation arranges guided tours, concerts and other cultural events in the historic building. Together with the St. Peter's School (Danish: St. Petri Skole) and the St. Peter's Cultural Center (Danish: St. Petri Kulturcentrum), both of which are located on the church's premises, it forms a centre for German culture in Copenhagen.

In popular culture

The church is used as a location in the 1991 drama film Drengene fra Sankt Petri.^[8]

References

^ "St. Petri". St. Petri Church. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
^ "Gjethuset". Selskabet for Københavns Historie. Archived from the original on 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
^ "St. Petri". St. Petri Church. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
^ "Sankt Petri Kirke". Gyldendal. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
^ "St. Petri". St. Petri Church. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
^ "Gravkapellerne, Sankt Petri Kirke". AOK. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
^ "St. Petri Kirke". Selskabet for Københavns Historie. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
^ "Sankt Petri Kirke". danskefilm.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 16 March 2017.