Copenhagen: Grundtvig’s Church

1921 – 1940

Architect: Peder Jensen-Klint

På Bjerget 14B, Copenhagen, Denmark

Located in the Bispebjerg district of Copenhagen, Grundtvig’s Church is one of the city’s most important churches. It serves as the parish church for the local Evangelical Lutheran congregation and belongs to the Diocese of Copenhagen.

Peder Jensen-Klint

Peder Jensen-Klint (June 21, 1853 – December 1, 1930) was a Danish architect, designer, painter, and architectural theorist. He is best known for designing Grundtvig’s Church in Copenhagen, which is widely considered one of the most significant examples of Danish architecture from that period. The church’s Expressionist style draws heavily from Scandinavian Gothic brick traditions.

Jensen-Klint was the father of fellow architect Kaare Klint, who finished work on the church after his father’s death in 1930.

Jensen-Klint created the plans for the church, which is named after Danish philosopher and pastor Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig.

Jensen-Klint won the competition to design the new church in 1913.

For his project, Klint studied many Danish village churches, drawing inspiration from their construction methods, materials, and ornamentation.

At Grundtvig’s Church, he combined modern, geometric forms of brick expressionism with classical, soaring Gothic lines.

Foundation

The church’s foundation stone was not laid until September 8, 1921, which was both the end of the First World War and Grundtvig’s 138th birthday.

The church tower was completed in 1927. The architect did not live to see the church completed.

Following his death in 1930, his son, Kaare Klint, took over management of the construction.

The church was completed and consecrated in 1940, on Grundtvig’s 157th birthday.

Church Building

The west façade, with its 49-meter bell tower, is the church’s most striking feature. Klint created stepped gables, which are common on Danish churches, for the nave, but he reinterpreted their form and doubled the highest point.

The three-nave hall church is 76 meters long, 35 meters wide, and 22 meters high. The interior can accommodate 1,800 people.

The entire structure is made of six million yellow bricks. The baptismal font is made of light limestone from Faxe.

A small settlement with a parish hall and residential buildings was built around the church at the same time to increase the effect of the church as a framing structure.

City Landmark

A long avenue leads directly to the church. Together with the approach to the main portal and its symmetrical outbuildings, the avenue forms an almost baroque visual axis.

This axis directs the view centrally to the Grundtvig Church façade, which is visible at the end. This emphasizes the church’s significance.

Designating the church as a city landmark helps visitors orient themselves to this centrally visible structure.

Integration and Flanking Buildings

The plan also included building several structures collectively known as “On the Hill” (Danish: “På Bjerget”) on either side of the church. This placement created a symmetrical context that enhanced the church’s visual impact.

Designed by Jensen-Klint in collaboration with Vilhelm Wittrup, Charles I. Schou, and Georg Gøssel, the buildings house the parish hall and apartments. Construction took place from 1924 to 1926.

A long, tree-lined road leads directly toward the church and flanking buildings through Bispebjerg Cemetery, creating a significant viewing axis.