Frederik's Church
— — a green dome holding the Copenhagen sky.
Not only on a wall.
“The Marble Church, on the axis from Amalienborg out toward the harbour. A copper-green dome 31 metres across, the widest in Scandinavia, set above a rotunda of pale stone. Started in 1749 for Frederik V, abandoned for nearly a century, finished at last in 1894. Bells at the hour. Lutheran light coming down through the lantern at noon, and a quiet that the traffic on Bredgade never quite reaches. — from the studio
Frederik's Church, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Frederik's Church, known to Copenhageners as Marmorkirken — the Marble Church — sits in the Frederiksstaden quarter on the axis between Amalienborg Palace and the harbour. The foundation stone was laid by Frederik V on 31 October 1749 to mark the tercentenary of the Oldenburg dynasty, on a design by Nicolai Eigtved drawing on Roman precedent. Funding ran out in 1770, the building stood as a roofless ruin for more than a hundred years, and the dome was finally completed in 1894 by Ferdinand Meldahl in limestone rather than the original Norwegian marble. It serves the Church of Denmark as a Lutheran parish church.
The dome measures 31 metres in diameter — the widest in Scandinavia — and rises on a ring of twelve columns above the rotunda. Around the building stand statues of leading figures from Danish church history, and the dome is rimmed outside by sixteen prophets and reformers. Eigtved's original plan called for Norwegian marble, but cost overruns pushed Meldahl to finish the structure in Faxe limestone and other pale Danish stone. The copper roof has weathered to the soft sea-green that now reads as the building's signature against the slate roofs of central Copenhagen.
The church is open daily for visitors free of charge, usually from 10:00 to 17:00 on weekdays and shorter hours on Sundays around services. The dome can be climbed in summer on guided tours, typically at 13:00 and 15:00 daily, with a small fee at the door — the climb is 260 steps and the view takes in Amalienborg, the Opera House across the harbour, and the spires of central Copenhagen. The nearest Metro station is Marmorkirken on the M3 Cityringen, two minutes from the door.