Denmark’s largest monastery church, and one of the country’s oldest brick buildings, is the 12th-century Sorø Kirke, set snugly on the grounds of the Sorø Academy. The Romanesque interior is simple and harmonious, brightened by medieval frescoes of blue, red, orange, green and white geometric patterns, shields and leaves, and lightened by a high 13th-century Gothic ceiling.
Interred in a prime position directly behind the main altar is Bishop Absalon, a member of the influential Hvide family and one of Denmark’s most significant medieval statesmen.
Absalon established a Cistercian monastery in Sorø in 1161 and had this church built in the grounds to serve as a family mausoleum. In a display cabinet to the right of the altar are the ivory crosier, gold-and-sapphire ring and silver chalice with which he was buried (extracted from his tomb in the 19th century).
Keeping Absalon company are kings Valdemar IV, Christopher II and Oluf III. Queen Margrethe I, the architect of the 1397 Kalmar Union, was buried here as well, but her remains were later transferred to Roskilde Domkirke. At the end of the left aisle is the marble sarcophagus of the great comic poet and playwright Ludvig Holberg.
The church’s grand interior includes a 6m-high 16th-century crucifix by Odense sculptor Claus Berg, carved from a single piece of wood, and a beautifully detailed baroque altar and pulpit. The 16th-century organ is the centrepiece of the Sorø International Music Festival.
