Below is Sct. Hans Kirke (St. Hans Church) named after Hans Christian Anderson. It is in the town of Odense, about 2 hours from Copenhagen. The town is large sized for Denmark (Wenatchee - East Wenatchee combined). We visited 3 other churches looking for this one. We asked several people in slow English for directions. We were misguided three times. Finally we went to the police station and asked. There we got the day's dumbest look. The policeman knew it was somewhere nearby he thought. The GPS is what saved the bacon. We only had to ask it twice...
Sct. Hans Kirke is where Maren Pedersen married Soren Knudsen Flensted. They are Soren Jacobsen's maternal grandparents.
The inside of the Church is beautiful. An original Carl Bloch painting is behind the altar. It is similar to the painting in Frederiksborg Castle (only better) :-) If you click on the picture you get a better view of the painting, plus a view of the lovely Irish girl on the pew :-)
Farther north in Hjorring district is the small town of Horby. Actually, Horby is an average size town (village really) - about 100 or so. It is amazing how small most villages are in northern Denmark. Below is Horby Kirke where my grandfather Soren Jacobsen was christened. His only brother Knud Jacobsen died here when he was one year old. His father, Martin Peder Jacobsen died before his second son was born and was buried here as well.
The inside of the chapel is simple. The font where he was christened is visible. Today the original font is inlaid in gold. Quite stunning.
The entire adventure was stunning - especially in the context of family. This is actually where my ancestors lived, walked, and are buried. Good stuff.
2 comments:
that's pretty amazing!! ancestors from not long ago. what a great day!
So wonderful! It's amazing to transcend time. Thanks for posting.
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