Jelling Church
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The
church in Jelling, which is placed between the two large mounds, has
been build of chalkstone. It has been build about the year 1100.
Before this church there has on the same location been three wooden
churches, of which the first was build in the period of Harald Bluetooth.
The size of the first wooden church was 14 x 30 meters, and therefore
somewhat larger than the present church, and it is considerably larger
than other wooden churches, from which are found remains.
The present stone church had a tower added in the years of 1400.
A part of the church burned in 1679, but was rebuild, and since a weapon
house has been added, which possibly has given cause for moving of the
small runic stone.
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| Old
picture of Jelling Church, about 1640. |
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In the church's choir you can find the oldest chalk paintings in the
country. They have been hidden by crossbows, but in 1874 a part of the
choir bows fell down, and then they discovered traces of old chalk
paintings.
At a restoration of the brickwork in 1978-1979 new possibilities for
excavations and examinations occurred . They were lead by Knud Krogh.
By these restorations they found tracks from the two previous wooden
buildings as pole holes, which they had also found at the earlier
excavations. But furthermore they also found pole holes from a third
wooden building. The present church of stone has thus in the past been
three wooden buildings, of which the first has been the largest. Even if
they have not yet excavated the whole area, they can calculate, that
this first wooden church has been considerably larger than the present
stone church. That is quite amazing, because at other places, where they
have found remains from earlier wooden churches, they have always been
smaller than the stone churches, which have succeeded them. As it is not
the case in Jelling, it can be because the town in the years between had
lost its importance as a
vital placed governmental town.
North of the center line of the first wooden building they found in the
ground a grave chamber, which was 4 meters long and 2,6 meters wide.
This grave chamber is build at the same time as the first wooden
building. The chamber is finished and closed, then it is cowered with a
lay of clay, which the floor of the wooden building is placed on.
The grave of the king below Jelling Church.
As the building of the grave chamber has taken place at the same time as
the wooden church has been build, then it is a proof of the fact, that
the first wooden building has not been a heathen house, but a church.
They have in the layer of clay found remains of burning, and in those
they have found tracks from bronze. They think that it may be remains
from a melted church bell. All three churches is believed to have burned
down before the stone church was build.
| The main grave below
Jelling church |
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In this grave chamber they found remains of a dead person on the wooden
floor. It looks like the deceased first has been buried at another place
and thereafter moved to this grave chamber, because the bones were
spread out, and two big bones were missing (right over arm and right
shinbone). The skeleton parts are believed to come from one single
person, a male with sizable bones. The dead person is believed to have
been about 50 years old
and has been 177 cm tall.
Furthermore they found in the grave chamber about 500 small gold
spirals, which probably came from some kind of textile, which has been
embroidered with a thin gold thread. They also found two gilded silver
ornaments. By closer examinations it turned up that some details in the
muster of the ornaments are the so called Jelling-style, which is also
found at the silver cup, which was found in the grave chamber in the
North Mound.
It looks like it is king Gorm
the Old. Without doubt he was buried in
the North Mound, when he died. Then Harald Bluetooth erected the large
runic stone as a remembrance. When Harald converted to Christianity and
built a church in Jelling, it would have been naturally to move the
remains of Gorm to this church. Perhaps because Harald in this way
wanted to make clear that he had accepted Christianity. And the grave
chamber in the North Mound looks like the buried person has been removed
from there.
The story told short.
At the times of Harald
Bluetooth`s the first church in wood was build in
Jelling. Beneath the church floor right in front of the choir bow was
formed a grave chamber made of oak wood. In here lay the remnants of a
177 cm tall male, about 50 years old. The skeleton was not complete, and
the bones in the grave were placed without natural grouping. The
explanation must be so, that the deceased at first was buried at another
place, and then later removed to the new grave in the church.
| Ornaments
from the grave of the king. |
 |
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Two silver furnishings from a belt lay close to the dead person. These
furnishings are decorated with animal and bird heads, which is typical
for the 900-years. The style is the same as the cups and the figures of
the birds from the empty grave in the North Mound. The similarities are
seen in the technique and the details of the decoration, among other
things in the heads of the animals, which have a characteristic curl by
the snout.
The two graves must have been build within some few years, the chamber
in The North Mound probably in the winter of 958-959, and the chamber
beneath the floor of the church at the same time as they build the
church after the conversion of Harald Bluetooth. The short distance
between the two graves and the similarities between the items from the
mound and the furnishing from the church indicates that the same family
was behind both funerals.
The dead person lay in the beginning in The North Mound. Moving of the
deceased can have been done at the initiative of Harald Bluetooth as to
give the deceased, the first king in the family, a new funeral after the
rituals of The Christian Church, and by that link together the power of
the king and the new strong belief. The inspiration to this the king may
have become from abroad, where prominent persons, like the German
Emperor Otto The Ist`s own father was buried in a church.
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Millennium in Jelling.
Denmark celebrated officially the millennium in Jelling on the 3rd
December 2000. Then the church was reopened after a significant new decoration.
The event took place at a millennium service at which Her Majesty Queen
Margrethe and Premier minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and many
representatives from the government attended.
The new decoration covers the inside of the whole church. A new floor is
established in red, Swedish granite with black decoration, and a silver
stripe where the chamber grave and thus where Gorm the Old is buried.
Gorm the Old has returned to the chamber grave after 23 years at the
National Museum. Gorm the Old was found in the chamber grave during
the
restoration in 1978.
The decoration consist of new benches, alter and kneeler . To the south
and east new decorations of the church's windows has been fulfilled, and the
lightning in the church consist of 60 smaller lamps. The organ of the
church has become a new place, and two new tones have been added. The colors in
the church correspond to the existing chalk paintings. The decoration of
Jelling Church has been conducted by the artist Jørn Larsen.
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