Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Alrø church / Alrø kirke, Hads herred, Aarhus amt














The small church on the island of Alrø has a choir and nave, which probably origins from early Gothic period, and a porch to the north from the late 1700s. The simple whitewashed building is in raw granite boulders, mixed with monk bricks and without visible plinth. From original details are both doors kept, the rectangular north door is in use, the south door is bricked-up. In the eastern wall of the choir is a small, vaguely point-arched window, while the north side is without windows. The choir has an original or very early vault with shamrock-profiled ribs,and the choir arch is round. The nave has a flat ceiling. The western gable of the nave is rebuilt with small bricks in 1772, and a weather vane was put up. The porch, built in granite boulders and bricks, is probably from the same time.

The altarpiece is late Renaissance from 1625 with a signature I H M in the mid-field, brought to light in a restore in 1912. Small baluster-shaped Baroque candelabres, given in 1660 by Henrik Mund, Serridslevgård, and his wife Birgitte Mormand - according to tradition a promise they gave, while they were in distress at sea. A large Romanesque granite font with primitive reliefs of human figures and flying birds. A smooth brass bowl, probably from the 1600s. The pulpit is a simple joinery of recent date. The bell, cast in Brønderslev 1949, hangs in a rack on the western gable - it was earlier in a bell frame northeast of the nave.

The islands Alrø and Endelave (in Horsens fjord)  were in 1661 given by king Frederik III as a godfather gift to the sons of Niels Banner (+ 1670). Around 1700 most of the island Alrø was owned by Just Rosenmeier from Westphalen.  

There are no preserved prehistorics on the island, but there was once a very large long dolmen Alrunes Grave. 

bridge between Alrø and Jutland


At the bridge and in the eastern end of the island are in the beach edge settlements from the Ertebøllekulturen.


Source: Trap Danmark, Århus amt, 1963.

photo Alrø 2009-2011: grethe bachmann

No comments: