Christians Kirke

Christians Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Christians Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Christians Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Christians Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Christians Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark.

christians kirke (formerly frederiks tydske kirke), christianshavn, copenhagen 1754-1759. architect: nicolai eigtved (1701-1754). completed by georg david anthon (1714-1781).

I am finding it a little difficult to let go of hans christian hansen and thought I'd take you to a church hansen himself mentioned as an inspiration for his work on tagensbo. christians kirke was the final building by nicolai eigtved, one of the finest architects in copenhagen history - a man who came from nothing, the orphaned son of a serf, to become architect to the crown, a brilliant one at that, even organising the new royal academy of art shortly before his death.

in terms of style eigtved's buildings are best described as tempered, northern rococo, though I suspect a lack of funds was occasionally to blame for their simplicity. in christians kirke, built for the german community, that was certainly the case, but its plain brick walls hide one of the city's more haunting interiors.

this chilly space, in colours so restrained you can barely determine if a photo is black and white, was built according to the protestant church type of the querkirche, which had the congregation facing their preacher across the short side of its rectangular plan - this to break down traditional ecclesiastical hierarchies and to support a liturgy in which the devout were equal to anyone but the example set by the son. significantly, outside hierarchies were still respected as seen in the royal box on axis with the altar.

the grey, wooden boxes, stacked in three galleries along three sides of the church, were sold to wealthy local families to fund construction. they add a sense of the theatre, but also - and, I believe, of equal importance - they make an urban square of the interior, oddly out of scale, but all the more moving for its strangeness.

the pietists, the protestant fundamentalists of the day whose values are reflected in eigtved's ascetic interior, could have gone much further, many of them having lost faith in the role of the church altogether, reformed or not. their resistance to institutions was such that the state deemed it necessary to ban private religious gatherings only a decade before christians kirke was built, the fear of fundies being nothing new.

yet, for a Dane these particular fundies are our parents, our ancestors. they were part of that truth-seeking aspect of christianity which had to question any authority that might stand in the way of truth and the promise of salvation. as nietzsche has taught us, it was this strain of thought which led christianity, after 2000 years, to finally face the godhead itself and for many to dismiss it. our two churches, christians kirke by eigtved and hans christian hansen's tagensbo kirke, are part of this critical tradition in christianity and contain in their very layout and design both the fanaticism of our past and clues to our current godlessness.

hansen took much from eigtved's church - the building type, of course, the intensity of the relationship between preacher and laity, the three floors, the economy of means - and added a measured warmth and an intimacy, I would call almost strict, one you cannot easily turn away from.

no-one would challenge the importance of eigtved's church, but the fact that one of our present architects to the crown has called its 20th century offspring, hans christian hansen's tagensbo church, ordinary and without religious solemnity, advising that a deconsecration would leave nothing worth protecting, still strikes me as wrong. these spaces are, on the contrary, our most profoundly religious, and what they offer by example is to make the play of power and the sentimentality of our more conventional churches plainly and painfully obvious.