page_title: Roskilde Cathedral
section_title: Current cathedral
hierarchical_section_title: Roskilde Cathedral / History / Current cathedral
caption_attribution_description: English: Altar, Roskilde Cathedral
context_page_description: Roskilde Cathedral, in the city of Roskilde on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, is a cathedral of the Lutheran Church of Denmark.
  The cathedral is the most important church in Denmark, the official royal burial church of the Danish monarchs, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is due to two criteria: the architecture of the cathedral shows 800 years of European architectural styles, and it is one of the earliest examples in Scandinavia of a Gothic cathedral to be built in brick, it encouraged the spread of the Brick Gothic style throughout Northern Europe. Constructed during the 12th and 13th centuries, the cathedral incorporates both Gothic and Romanesque architectural features in its design. The cathedral has been the main burial site for Danish monarchs since the 15th century. As such, it has been significantly extended and altered over the centuries to accommodate a considerable number of burial chapels and the many added chapels show different architectural styles.
  The cathedral is a major tourist attraction, bringing in over 165,000 visitors annually. Since 1995, it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its unique architecture.
context_section_description: It has been accepted, that soon after he became Bishop of Roskilde in 1157, Absalon began to expand the travertine cathedral. In 1160, the art of firing bricks was brought to Denmark from Italy by monks, and the new material was employed. Researchers decided to build a new cathedral around the existing one, allowing services to continue during construction. It has long been believed that bishop Absalon began construction, and when Absalon was forced to surrender his position as Bishop of Roskilde in 1191, only the two floors of the apse, the choir towers and part of the transept had been completed. Absalon's successor, Peder Sunesen, embracing the new French Gothic style, later made significant changes to the plans, tearing down the choir towers and reducing the width of the transept. But new research points to Peder Sunesen as the main initiator and hence instead of rebuilding it, it was constructed in the transition period between Romanesque and Gothic show elements from both styles in the cathedral.
  The choir was completed and inaugurated in 1225, allowing services to begin there, and the old travertine cathedral was torn down. Work on the nave continued for the next 55 years, limited by funds, lack of kilns to fire the bricks, and the winters. With the exception of the two towers on the west facade, the cathedral was completed by 1280, and work on the interior proceeded, slowed by a fire in 1282 which also destroyed several of the canons' houses in the area. Several chapels were also added to the cathedral, and in 1405, work on the towers was completed.
  When Margrethe I died in 1412, she was buried in her family's chapel at Sorø Klosterkirke. But the following year bishop Peder Jensen Lodehat, who had been the queen's chancellor and religious advisor, brought her body to Roskilde Cathedral. The monks in Sorø were outraged, above all because the loss of the queen's earthly remains would mean a significant loss in income from requiems — at that time monks and clergy would typically have been paid to say requiem masses for a dead person, and for a queen such masses would likely have been said on a regular basis in perpetuity, each one incurring a fee — as well as a loss of prestige. Though often blamed on the bishop, it is quite possible that the move was orchestrated by the queen's adoptive son, Eric of Pomerania. This is reinforced by the inscription on the sarcophagus, which describes how it was given by the new king, Eric VII, in 1423.
  In his "Chronica novella", German chronicler de:Hermann Korner describes the vast, three-day-long burial ceremony involving King Eric VII, several noblemen, the Archbishop of Lund, and all of the Danish bishops. There is an account of how the procession granted substantial gifts to each of the 50 altars in the cathedral. On the first day, the royal couple would give each altar a golden ornament, a golden antependium and a silver chalice; the noblemen would each bestow a florin on the altars; and the knights, squires, and anyone else who wished to bestow gifts would provide each altar with silver coins from Lübeck. On the second and third days, the royal couple would bestow two nobles on each altar, the noblemen would bestow a florin on them, and the rest of the procession would bestow silver coins as they wished. What was left of silver coins were then put in a bowl, to be cast among the poor in Roskilde?
  On 14 May 1443, a fire swept through Roskilde, destroying most of the city and all but three of the clergy's houses. The fire was so intense that the glass windows cracked, and the lead roofing melted. The cathedral was badly damaged and it was not until 1463 that the bishop, Oluf Mortensen, could rededicate it. To help with its reconstruction, the bishops of Denmark each signed a letter granting 40 days of indulgence to whoever would contribute to its cost. The reconstruction could also have been helped by the decision of Christian I to build a chapel at the cathedral. The Chapel of the Magi was built during the 1460s, and together with the sarcophagus of Margrethe I and the remains
caption: The altar
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