Elmelund Kirke – old church on Møn

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Elmelund Kirke is one of the old churches of Møn which were built when Denmark was still Catholic. It is actually the oldest church on the island probably dating back to 1080 just a bit over a millennium after King Harold Bluetooth officially made Christianity into the official Danish religion.

Back in the time when the church was still a Catholic church the inside of the church was richly decorated with a lot of paintings on the walls. These decorations were probably found in old traditional bibles belonging to the poor people. These had many printings of scenes from the bible to help explain the poor people about the stories of the bible. This was an important thing since the poor people couldn’t read so they needed illustrations to understand the stories of the bible.

During the reformation the ideas in the Lutheran version of Christianity was different. Now the idea was simplicity and the service would be in Danish. So the need for the paintings to help the locals follow the story was less important and the paintings were covered behind simple white paint until they were rediscovered centuries later.

The church of Elmelund was restored and the paintings were once again made visible. You can go in to see the paintings if you are on Møn for a bit of exploration. I guess the main thing around here is the white cliffs of Møns Klint at the end of the island but it is easy to squeeze in Elmelund Kirke or a couple of the other churches since it are right on the way to the cliffs at the end of the island.

It is free to go inside the church you just have to make it before 3 in the afternoon when they might close the door for the day.

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