Aastrup Church

About

Aastrup Church (Danish: Aastrup Kirke), located on the top of a steep hill in the village of Aastrup, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) southwest of Stubbekøbing on the Danish island of Falster, dates from c. 1200. Built in the Late Romanesque style, it has frescos from the 13th and 15th centuries.

History: The church was dedicated to St Anne although this was probably not its original patron as Anne was not generally known in Denmark until the late Middle Ages. The Crown, which enjoyed clerical appointment rights since before the Reformation, sold the church in 1767 to the parish priest, Christian Henrik Biering. In 1810, Peter Hersleb Classen, director of Det Classenske Fideicommis, transferred the church's ownership to the local landowners and in 1919 it became autonomous.

Architecture: The brick chancel and the nave both have round arch friezes below the cornice. The south door, partly bricked up, is still in use but the north door, whose remnants were uncovered in 1984, is completely closed. The nave was extended at the end of the 15th century when cross-vaulting replaced the flat ceiling. The remains of the priest's door can be seen on the south wall of the chancel. The east gable...