Sæby Church, Lejre Municipality


Sæby Church is located in the small village of Sæby on the Hornsherred peninsula, Lejre Municipality, some 50 km west of Copenhagen, Denmark. Originating in a Romanesgue church from the 13th century, later expanded with a Gothic tower, it owes its current appearance to a renovation undertaken by Jørgen Hansen Koch in 1824.

History

The Romanesque church was constructed in the 13th-century. Nothing is known about its ownership in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, it was confiscated by the Crown. In 1650, it was sold to Oluf Rosenkrantz, the owner of nearby Egholm. He would later also purchase Gershøj and Skibby churches.
In 1810, along with Krabbesholm, it was sold to Nicolai Abraham Holten. In 1824, Holten commissioned Jørgen Hansen Koch to expand the church.
A new rectory was in

Architecture

The church building consists of a Romanesque nave, a Gothic tower from the 15th century and an eastern cruciform extension with chancel and apse from 1824. The older parts of the building was in connection with Koch's renovation dressed with yellow brick, similar to those used for the new part of the building.

Interior and furnishings

The interor walls of the nave feature two plaster reliefs by Herman Wilhelm Bissen, depicting "Christ with the Small Children" and "Lazarus awekening".
The empire-style pulpit was designed by Jørgen Hansen Koch. It has a cylindrical shape and is white lacquered with gilded details.
The alter piece features a tall, narrow painting by V. W. Rxkersberg, depicting the resurrected Jesus, in a arch-headed frame with gilded arcanthus orbnamentation.

Graveyard

The layout of the graveyard has not changed since the renovation of the church in 1824. In the northeastern corner of the graveyard stands a memorial to the farmer Lars Pedersen from Hyllingeledsgården, who died in 1833, It was erected by N. A. Holten to designs by the prominent sculptor Hermann Ernst Freund.