St. Canute's Cathedral | |
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Sankt Knuds Kirke | |
55°23′43.44″N 10°23′20.36″E / 55.3954000°N 10.3889889°ECoordinates: 55°23′43.44″N 10°23′20.36″E / 55.3954000°N 10.3889889°E | |
Location | Klosterbakken 2 Odense, Southern Denmark |
Country | Denmark |
Denomination | Church of Denmark |
Previous denomination | Roman Catholic |
Website | www |
Architecture | |
Style | Gothic |
Completed | 11th century 14th century |
Specifications | |
Number of towers | 1 |
Materials | Brick |
Administration | |
Parish | Saint Canute |
Diocese | Funen |
Clergy | |
Provost | Regina Ljung |
Vicar(s) | Peter Ruge Peder P. Thyssen Anne Kathrine Rafn Hauge |
Laity | |
Organist(s) | Randi Mortensen Anders Grankvist Schou |
St. Canute's Cathedral (Danish: Odense Domkirke or Sankt Knuds Kirke), also known as Odense Cathedral, is named after the Danish king Canute the Saint (Danish: Knud den Hellige), otherwise Canute IV. It is a fine example of Brick Gothic architecture. The church's most visited section is the crypt where the remains of Canute and his brother Benedict are on display.
St. Canute's Church in one form or another has stood on Abbey Hill in Odense (Danish: Klosterbakken) for over 900 years.
Odense was established as the seat of the Bishop of Odense (Othinia) before 988 under the supervision of the Bishop of Schleswig, itself a suffragan of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. The diocese included the southern Baltic islands of Denmark. The earliest bishops' names have not been recorded. Odense passed to the jurisdiction of Roskilde in 1072 for a short period of time before falling to the Archdiocese of Lund.
The earliest known church on the present location was a travertine church which was reported under construction by Aelnoth of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk at the nearby St. Alban's Priory in 1095. The foundations of the travertine church can still be seen in the crypt of the present building. The church was built in Romanesque style with semi-circular arches supporting a flat timber ceiling. The travertine church was built specifically to house the earthly remains of King Canute, who was murdered in the church of St. Alban's Priory in 1086.