Elmelunde Kirke


Elmelunde church originally dates back to the 1080s, but what makes it special are the painted ceiling vaults that, like the whitewashed stepped tower, were added four centuries later. Remarkable frescoes by the so-called ‘Elmelunde master’ illustrate garbled biblical messages, giving reminders of the shortness of human life. Notice the human-headed serpent in the Garden of Eden, Herod’s soldiers dressed in medieval armour and a devil leading the damned into the monstrous mouth of hell.

While the frescoes here are similar to those at Fanefjord and Keldby, the church itself feels smaller and cosier inside.


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