1.
Hans Christian Andersen
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Hans Christian Andersen (/ˈhɑːnz ˈkrɪstʃən ˈændərsən/, Danish, often referred to in Scandinavia as H. C. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersens popularity is not limited to children, his stories, called eventyr in Danish, express themes that transcend age and nationality. Some of his most famous fairy tales include The Emperors New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, The Snow Queen, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina and his stories have inspired ballets, animated and live-action films and plays. Hans Christian Andersen was born in the town of Odense, Denmark, Andersens father, also Hans, considered himself related to nobility. His paternal grandmother had told his father that their family had in the past belonged to a social class. A persistent theory suggests that Andersen was a son of King Christian VIII. Andersens father, who had received an education, introduced Andersen to literature. Andersens mother, Anne Marie Andersdatter, was uneducated and worked as a washerwoman following his fathers death in 1816, she remarried in 1818. Andersen was sent to a school for poor children where he received a basic education and was forced to support himself, working as an apprentice for a weaver and, later. At 14, he moved to Copenhagen to seek employment as an actor, having an excellent soprano voice, he was accepted into the Royal Danish Theatre, but his voice soon changed. A colleague at the theatre told him that he considered Andersen a poet, taking the suggestion seriously, Andersen began to focus on writing. Jonas Collin, director of the Royal Danish Theatre, felt a great affection for Andersen and sent him to a school in Slagelse. Andersen had already published his first story, The Ghost at Palnatokes Grave, though not a keen pupil, he also attended school at Elsinore until 1827. He later said his years in school were the darkest and most bitter of his life, at one school, he lived at his schoolmasters home. There he was abused and was told that it was to improve his character and he later said the faculty had discouraged him from writing in general, causing him to enter a state of depression. A very early fairy tale by Andersen, called The Tallow Candle, was discovered in a Danish archive in October 2012, the story, written in the 1820s, was about a candle who did not feel appreciated. It was written while Andersen was still in school and dedicated to a benefactor, in 1829, Andersen enjoyed considerable success with the short story A Journey on Foot from Holmens Canal to the East Point of Amager. Its protagonist meets characters ranging from Saint Peter to a talking cat, Andersen followed this success with a theatrical piece, Love on St. Nicholas Church Tower, and a short volume of poems
2.
Culture of Denmark
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The culture of Denmark has a rich intellectual and artistic heritage. The astronomical discoveries of Tycho Brahe, Ludwig A, from the mid-1990s, Danish films have attracted international attention, especially those associated with Dogme 95 like those of Lars Von Trier. Denmark has had a tradition of movie making and Carl Theodor Dreyer has been recognised as one of the worlds greatest film directors. Culture and the arts thrive as a result of the high amount of government funding they receive. Thanks to a system of grants, Danish artists are able to devote themselves to their work while museums, theatres, similar to other Scandinavian cultures, a fundamental aspect of Danish culture is hygge. Hygge, meaning snug, is a concept that evokes coziness, particularly when relaxing with friends or loved ones. Christmas time, when loved ones sit close together on a rainy night, is a true moment of hygge, as is grilling a pølse. It is suspected the concept of Hygge is part of the reason Danes, the Danish word for the Christmas holiday is Jul, from the Old Norse jól, the term for midwinter, itself cognate with the English word, yule. Midwinter celebrations were an important part of Scandinavian culture since prehistoric times, the morning can be spent in various ways but most often it is the time when preparations are made for the evening. Juleaften or Yule Eve starts around 6 p. m. when a dinner is served. The menu is, White and browned potatoes, red cabbage, White potatoes are ordinary boiled potatoes without their jackets and browned potatoes are caramelised white potatoes. Some families enjoy a special Danish version of roast pork, called flæskesteg complete with crackling or maybe a special sausage called medisterpølse, made out of rice, it is not to be confused with rice pudding. The chief difference is the whipped cream added to the rice, on serving, chopped almond and vanilla can be added, among other things. It is served cold, with hot cherry sauce, an unchopped almond can also be added and hidden in the dessert. The person who finds it in his portion receives a small prize, afterwards, the candles on the Christmas tree are lit and the family dance around it singing Christmas songs and carols and subsequently exchange presents. Danish folklore is made up of folk tales, legends, songs, music, dancing, popular beliefs and traditions, mostly communicated by the inhabitants of towns, many of these were passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth. As in neighbouring countries, interest in folklore grew with a feeling of national consciousness in 19th-century Denmark. Researchers travelled across the country collecting innumerable folktales, songs and sayings while observing traditional dress in the various regions, folklore today is part of the national heritage, represented in particular by national and local traditions, songs, folk dances and literature
3.
Architecture of Denmark
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The architecture of Denmark has its origins in the Viking period, richly revealed by archaeological finds. It became firmly established in the Middle Ages when first Romanesque, then Gothic churches and it was during this period that, in a country with little access to stone, brick became the construction material of choice, not just for churches but also for fortifications and castles. In parallel, the style became popular for ordinary dwellings in towns. Late in his reign, Christian IV also became a proponent of Baroque which was to continue for a considerable time with many impressive buildings both in the capital and the provinces. Neoclassicism came initially from France but was adopted by native Danish architects who increasingly participated in defining architectural style. A productive period of Historicism ultimately merged into the 19th century National Romantic style and it was not, however, until the 1960s that Danish architects entered the world scene with their highly successful Functionalism. Archaeological excavations in parts of Denmark have revealed much about the way the Vikings lived. One of the most notable sites is Hedeby, located some 45 km south of the Danish border near the German town of Schleswig, it probably dates back to the end of the 8th century. The houses are deemed to be among the most sophisticated dwellings of their time, oak frames were used for the walls, and the roofs were probably thatched. Viking ring houses, such as those at Trelleborg, near Slagelse on the Danish island of Zealand, have a different, ship-like shape. Each house consisted of a central hall,18 m ×8 m. Those at Fyrkat in the north of Jutland were 28.5 m long,5 m wide at the ends and 7.5 m in the middle, the walls consisted of double rows of posts with planks wedged horizontally between them. A series of posts slanted towards the wall were possibly used to support the building like buttresses. Denmarks first churches from the 9th century were built of timber and have not survived, hundreds of stone churches in the Romanesque style were built in the 12th and 13th centuries. They had a nave and chancel with small rounded windows. Among the finest examples of brick Romanesque buildings are St. Bendts Church in Ringsted, the church at Østerlars on the island of Bornholm was built around 1150. Like three other churches on the island, it is a round church, the three-storeyed building is supported by a circular outer wall and an exceptionally wide, hollow central column. Construction of Lund Cathedral in Scania started in about 1103 when the region was part of the Kingdom of Denmark and it was the first of great Danish Romanesque cathedrals in the shape of a three-aisled basilica with transepts
4.
Danish art
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Danish art is the visual arts produced in Denmark or by Danish artists. It goes back thousands of years with significant artifacts from the 2nd millennium BC, for many early periods, it is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia. Art from what is today Denmark forms part of the art of the Nordic Bronze Age, Danish medieval painting is almost entirely known from church frescos such as those from the 16th-century artist known as the Elmelunde Master. The Reformation greatly disrupted Danish artistic traditions, and left the body of painters and sculptors without large markets. Thereafter for an extended period art in Denmark was either imported from Germany, from the late 18th century on, the situation changed radically and beginning with the Danish Golden Age, a distinct tradition of Danish art has continued to flourish until today. Due to generous art subsidies, contemporary Danish art has a big production per capita, lurs are a distinctive type of giant curving Bronze Age horn, of which 35 of the 53 known examples have been found in bogs in Denmark, very often in pairs. They are normally made of bronze, and often decorated, a possibly alien find in Denmark is the Gundestrup cauldron, a richly decorated silver vessel, thought to date to the 1st century BC. It was found in 1891 in a bog near the hamlet of Gundestrup in north-eastern Jutland. The silversmithing of the plates is very skilled, the bowl,70 cm across, was beaten from a single ingot. Now in the National Museum of Denmark, it is the largest known example of European silver work from the period, the style and workmanship suggest Thracian origin, while the imagery seems Celtic, so it may not reflect local styles. Danish sites have given their names to two of the six main styles of Viking or Norse art, Jelling style and its successor Mammen style, only one Danish ship burial is known, from Ladbyskibet. The images on the runestones at Jelling are probably the best known Danish works of the period, church wall paintings are to be found in some 600 churches across Denmark, probably representing the highest concentration of surviving church murals anywhere in the world. Most of them back to the Middle Ages. They lay hidden for centuries as after the Reformation in Denmark, of most interest to Danish art are the Gothic paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries as they were painted in a style typical of native Danish painters. Adopting the Biblia pauperum approach, they present many of the most popular stories from the Old, albrecht Dürers portrait of her father Christian II of Denmark, painted in Brussels in 1521, has not survived, though portraits of him by other foreign artists have. After a period of development its pupils were indeed to lead the creation of a distinct Danish style, leading Danish artists teaching at the Academy included Christian August Lorentzen and Jens Juel, also later Director. Among his works are the series of statues of Christ. Motifs for his works were mostly from Greek mythology, but he also created portraits of important personalities, as in his tomb monument for Pope Pius VII in St Peters Basilica
5.
Cinema of Denmark
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Denmark has been producing films since 1897 and since the 1980s has maintained a steady stream of product due largely to funding by the state-supported Danish Film Institute. Historically, Danish films have been noted for their realism, religious and moral themes, sexual frankness, the Danish filmmaker Carl Th. Dreyer is considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. In the modern era, notable filmmakers in Denmark include Lars von Trier, who co-created the Dogme film movement, Danish cinema pioneer Peter Elfelt, a photographer, was the first Dane to make a film. Between the years of 1896 and 1912, he produced around 200 documentary films on life in Denmark and his first film was Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde. Furthermore, he produced the first Danish feature film, Henrettelsen, the first film show in Denmark took place in the Panorama cinema on the Town Hall square in Copenhagen, in June 1896. However, the selection of films had made and produced abroad. In 1906, cinema owner Ole Olsen founded the first Danish film-making company and it gained most of its income from the export market of short films. Not until 1909 were other film-producing companies established, in 1910 the number had reached ten. This period is now known as the Golden Age of Danish Cinema, in the spring of 1910, Nordisk Films Kompagni changed its policy of producing only short films and began making feature films. This was largely inspired by the Århus Fotorama companys Den hvide Slavehandel, with the increasing length of films, there was a growing artistic awareness, which is evident in Afgrunden. This film launched the career of Asta Nielsen, who soon became Europes first great female film star, the film was an erotic melodrama, which soon became the preferred genre in early Danish cinema. In 1911, with director August Blom as the new head of production and these films were sold abroad profitably because the technical and photographic quality impressed audiences. Yet, when exporting the films, the elements needed to be toned down in order not to offend the working class audiences. In 1913, Nordisk released the first full-length feature movie, Atlantis directed by Blom, after 1913, Danish cinema began to lose its leading foothold in the film industry, with foreign companies having intensified competition in the production of feature-length films. Danish cinema had begun to suffer from a lack of imagination. During World War I, the USA became the nation in film production. However, Dreyer, as well as Benjamin Christensen, were not permanently connected to the influential Danish film industries, as a whole, Danish film in the 1920s was on the decline in spite of the filmmakers better technical skills. Of most interest at this time were perhaps the so-called Dickens movies directed by the very able A. W. Sandberg
6.
Danish cuisine
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Denmark is known for its Carlsberg and Tuborg beers and for its akvavit and bitters, but amongst the Danes themselves imported wine has gained in popularity since the 1960s. Danish chefs, inspired by continental practices, have in recent years developed a series of gourmet dishes based on high-quality local produce known as new Danish cuisine. As a result, Copenhagen and the provinces now have a number of highly acclaimed restaurants. Danish cooking is rooted in the peasant dishes served across the country before the Industrial Revolution in 1860 and it was based on the need to make use of natural products available on or near the family farm. As a result, a variety of brassicas, bread, fish, pork, families had their own storage of long-lasting dry products, rye for making bread, barley for beer, dried peas for soup and smoked or salted pork. While industrialization brought increases in the consumption of meat and green vegetables, rye bread. With the arrival of dairy cooperatives in the half of the 19th century. Wood-fired ovens and meat grinders contributed to a range of new dishes including frikadeller, roast pork, poached cod, desserts of stewed fruits or berries such as rødgrød date from the same period. Over the centuries, sausage, which was not only economical, in the 1880s, Oskar Davidsen opened a restaurant specializing in smørrebrød with a long list of open sandwiches. Leverpostej became available in shops at the end of the 19th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, tomatoes and cucumbers were added as a topping to the cold cuts, in the 1940s, Henry Stryhn popularized leverpostej by making deliveries around Copenhagen on his bicycle. In the 1960s and 1970s, with the availability of deep frozen goods, by the 1990s, ingredients were being imported from the south while new products were farmed at home, providing a basis for a developing interest in gourmet dishes. Much of the came from France, as Danish chefs went on television explaining how to prepare dishes such as canard à lorange or authentic sauce Béarnaise. As a result, in recent years Danish chefs have helped to put Denmark on the world map, with several Michelin-starred restaurants in Copenhagen. Danish cuisine has also advantage of the possibilities inherent in traditional recipes, building on the use of local products. Products such as rapeseed, oats, cheeses and older varieties of fruits are being rediscovered and prepared in new ways both by restaurants and at home as interest in organic foods continues to grow. In 2010,2011,2012 and 2014 the Copenhagen restaurant Noma was named the worlds best restaurant by the magazine Restaurant, in 2012, Danish chef and food activist Claus Meyer had his own show about Nordic cuisine on BBC Lifestyle. His recent book Almanak contains 365 new cuisine recipes, one for day of the year
7.
Danish design
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Danish Design is a style of functionalistic design and architecture that was developed in mid-20th century. Prominent examples are the Egg chair, the PH lamps and the Sydney Opera House, among the most successful designers associated with the concept are Børge Mogensen, Finn Juhl, Hans Wegner, Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjærholm, Poul Henningsen and Verner Panton. The Canon also includes Knud V. Engelhardt for an industrial approach. In the area of textiles, Marie Gudme Leth brought the printing process to Denmark. August Sandgren introduced functionalism in the design of his masterful bookbindings, in the late 1940s, shortly after the end of the Second World War, conditions in Denmark were ideally suited to success in design. The emphasis was on furniture but architecture, silver, ceramics, glass, Denmarks late industrialisation combined with a tradition of high-quality craftsmanship formed the basis of gradual progress towards industrial production. After the end of the war, Europeans were keen to find novel approaches such as the wood furniture from Denmark. Last but not least, support in Denmark for freedom of individual expression assisted the cause, the newly established Furniture School at the Royal Danish Academy of Art played a considerable part in the development of furniture design. Kaare Klint taught functionalism based on the size and proportions of objects, Hans J. Wegner, who had been trained as a cabinetmaker, contributed with a unique sense of form, especially in designing chairs. As head of the cooperative FDB furniture design studio, Børge Mogensen designed simple, Finn Juhl demonstrated an individualistic approach in designing chairs with an appealing but functional look. In the early 1950s, American design also influenced Danish furniture, the American Charles Eames designed and manufactured chairs of moulded wood and steel pipes. These encouraged Arne Jacobsen to design his worldfamous Ant Chair, Denmarks first industrially manufactured chair, furthermore, as Shaker furniture—and especially its reputation for stripped down chairs—began to be more and more known abroad, it also influenced Danish designers. Poul Kjærholm, Verner Panton and Nanna Ditzel followed a few years later, Danish furniture design failed to make any new important contributions in the 1970s and 1980s. By contrast, industrial designers began to prosper, making use of the principles of focus on the user, respect for materials. The electronics manufacturer Bang & Olufsen, in collaboration with Bernadotte & Bjørn and later with Jacob Jensen and David Lewis, around the same time, the Stelton company collaborated with Arne Jacobsen and Erik Magnussen to produce their iconic vacuum jug, a huge international success. Another successful design field is medical technology, Danish design companies like 3PART, Designit and CBD have worked in this area with individual designers such as Steve McGugan and Anders Smith. In 2002 the Danish Government and the City of Copenhagen launched an effort to establish a world event for design in Copenhagen, today, there is strong focus on design in Denmark as industry increasingly appreciates the importance of design in the business environment. In addition, as part of its trade and industry policy, Modern architecture has also contributed to the concept of Danish design
8.
Danish folklore
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As in neighbouring countries, interest in folklore grew with an emerging feeling of national consciousness in 19th century Denmark. Researchers travelled across the country collecting innummerable folktales, songs and sayings while observing traditional dress in the various regions, folklore today is part of the national heritage, represented in particular by national and local traditions, songs, folk dances and literature. As in the rest of Europe, interest in Danish folklore was a result of national and international trends in the early 19th century. In particular, the German Romanticism movement was based on the belief there was a relationship between language, religion, traditions, songs and stories and those who practiced them. Common roots encouraged a countrys inhabitants to share the concept of a modern nation, the approach spread to smaller, oppressed countries whose politicians and intellectuals worked towards developing the populations awareness of a common ethnicity. This applied to Denmark after the Napoleonic Wars and the loss of Norway in 1814, a new awareness of common origins was born, encouraging researchers to investigate the everyday lives of countryfolk, at a time when folktales, poetry, songs and beliefs were beginning to disappear. By documenting folk culture, these intellectuals believed they had safeguarded an asset which had passed on by oral tradition since the Middle Ages or even earlier. Today it is recognized only a fraction of the sources can be traced back further than the Renaissance. Furthermore, traditions changed with time while new trends were born, over the centuries, dancing has formed a key part of celebrations in Denmark. Festive gatherings often took place in farmhouses where chain dances or rotational sequences provided opportunities for everyone to join in if the room was packed. There were however a few exceptions including Bornholm, Amager and Fanø which maintained their own traditions, as the town musicians disliked traditional instruments such as drums, bagpipes and hurdy-gurdies, the fiddle was increasingly used for dance music. By the second half of the 17th century, pair dances from Poland were introduced, especially the pols, dances which became popular in the 19th century included the waltz and Danish variants of contra and square dances such as the hopsa, rheinlænder, galop, sveitrit and schottish. Those taking part in the festivities wore their best Sunday costumes, in the middle of the 19th century, both the traditional costumes and the dances began to die out. But by the beginning of the 20th century, when there was renewed interest in the heritage, a number of groups began to revive the music, the dances. In 1901, the Society for the Promotion of Danish Folk Dancing was founded in Copenhagen, today there are some over 12,000 folk dancers belonging to 219 local clubs which provide courses in music, dancing and dressmaking. The traditional costumes of Denmark, though varying from region to region, in rural communities, the fabrication of garments for both family members and servants was an important part of everyday life. They were usually made of fabric, woven by the women themselves or by a professional weaver. Many of the patterns, based on a range of colours from vegetable dyes, were common to almost all parts of the country
9.
Music of Denmark
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Denmarks most famous classical composer is Carl Nielsen, especially remembered for his six symphonies, while the Royal Danish Ballet specializes in the work of Danish choreographer Andrew Armstrong. Danes have distinguished themselves as musicians, and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival has acquired an international reputation. Lars Ulrich is the first Danish musician to be inducted into the Rock, the earliest traces of Danish music go back to the many twisting bronze-age horns or lurs which some experts have identified as musical instruments. They have been discovered in parts of Scandinavia, mostly Denmark. In his Gesta Danorum, historian Saxo Grammaticus refers to the power that music had over King Erik the Kind-Hearted, in the 13th and early 14th centuries, German minnesingers such as Tannhäuser and Frauenlob sang in the Danish courts. The Codex Runicus contains a written in runes with a non-rhythmic musical notation. The first line is Drømdæ mik æn drøm i nat, there is also evidence that English monks came to Denmark to sing at a celebration commemorating St Canute, who died in 1086. In 1145, Lund Cathedral received Scandinavias first choir statues, the greatest influence on the evolution of music in Denmark has certainly been the monarchy. At the time of his coronation in 1448, Christian I engaged a permanent corps of trumpeters, and by 1519 the court had a corps of court singers and an instrumental ensemble as well. The collections of works used by the chapel royal under Christian III in the middle of the 16th century were based on Dutch, Italian, French, Christian IV spent considerable sums of money on training local musicians and bringing foreign masters to Denmark. Mogens Pedersøn, one of his Danish musicians who had studied in Venice under Giovanni Gabrieli and his principal work Pratum spirituale was a collection of 21 Danish hymns in five-part settings, a mass in five parts, three Latin motets and a number of Danish and Latin choral responses. It was published in Copenhagen in 1620 and is performed today. Under the influence of Louis XIV of France, music for the theatre was established in Denmark during the reigns of Frederik III and this soon led to opera and the performance of Der vereinigte Götterstreit composed by Povl Christian Schindler on Christians birthday in 1689. Although it was a success, there was little interest in opera after the theatre caught fire a few days later causing 180 deaths. In 1569, shortly after the Reformation, Denmarks first hymn book, dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist and a highly regarded composer of the Baroque period. His organ works comprise a part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals. But he is most remembered for his vocal compositions, in his day Buxtehude was considered to be the unrivalled master of his time. Frederik IV opened a new house in Copenhagen in 1703
10.
Photography in Denmark
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Although Denmark was slow to accept photography as an art form, Danish photographers are now increasingly active, participating in key exhibitions around the world. Press photography has prospered too under award-winning contributors such as Jan Grarup and Claus Bjørn Larsen, Christian Tuxen Falbe, a Danish marine officer, was in Paris in January 1839 on behalf of Crown Prince Frederik when Louis Daguerre revealed the art of daguerreotyping. The oldest photograph on record in Denmark is credited to Peter Faber, a songwriter and his daguerreotype of Ulfeldts Plads is in the Copenhagen City Museum. The image of the square is in fact reversed left to right, careful analysis of the photograph suggests that it dates back to July 1840. The exposure time of about 15 minutes in sunlight explains why the figure to be seen is a man sleeping at the foot of the Pillar of Shame towards the left of the picture. This daguerrotype was taken by the French photographer Aymard Charles Théodore Neubourg, an examination of the circumstances under which it was taken reveals that the date was Sunday,26 July 1840. It has also noticed that Thorvaldsen is making the horn sign with what apparently is his left hand although, as a result of the daguerrotype mirror effect. This has been ascribed to the anxiety he must have experienced while facing the new device which could reveal even the slightest detail. Several Danes are remembered for their contributions to daguerreotypy, while in Paris in 1848, Anton Melbye, a marine artist, learnt from Daguerre. Rudolph Striegler, Johan Emilius Bogh and Johan Ludvig Ussing were among those who began to specialize in portrait photography opening studios in Copenhagen, georg Emil Hansen from Næstved came from a family of photographers. When his father, Carl Christian Hansen, opened a studio in Copenhagen and he became one of the most respected photographers of his day, with Christian IX of Denmark and the Danish Royal Family as customers in the early 1860s. He also excelled in adopting new techniques and he was the first to use paper prints and to make full-length portrait enlargements. He received awards for his exhibitions in London and Berlin, in 1867, together with his brother, Niels Christian Hansen, and two other photographers, he set up a photographic firm which later became Hansen, Schou & Weller, suppliers to the royal Danish court. The technique of carte de visite photography was brought to Denmark by Rudolph Striegler in 1860, heinrich Tønnies remains to date one of the premier CDV photographers of Denmark. In June 1856 he began his career as a partner under C. Fritsche in Aalborg and by December of the year he bought his partners share of the business. By 1861, Tönnies business boomed requiring a larger studio and the hiring of assistants, ultimately, his family business spanned three-generations and 75 years. The breadth of his products included, Daguerreotypes, calotypes, pannotypes, photo-lithography, stereoscopy, ambrotypes, CDVs
11.
Danish sculpture
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Danish sculpture as a nationally recognized art form can be traced back to 1752 when Jacques Saly was commissioned to execute a statue of King Frederick V of Denmark on horseback. More recently, Danish sculpture has been inspired by European trends, especially those from Paris, from roughly the same period, there are sculpted figures in the granite reliefs depicting the Removal from the Cross in the tympanum above the so-called Cats Head Door of Ribe Cathedral. However the Reformation in 1536 brought such work to an almost total stop. During the Renaissance period, sculptors from abroad were the source of work in Denmark, the Flemish sculptor Cornelis Floris from Antwerp produced tombs for Herluf Trolle and Birgitte Gøye in Herlufsholm and for Christian III in Roskilde Cathedral. Gert van Groningen was one of the leading Dutch artists to participate in the design of Kronborgs main entrance, another Flemish sculptor active towards the end of the 16th century in Denmark was Gert van Egen who designed Frederik IIs tomb in Roskilde Cathedral. Shortly after the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts was founded in March 1754, Saly was appointed as its director and it has been called one of the finest equestrian statues in Europe. Soon after his return to Denmark in 1758, he was commissioned to sculpt a monument to the long deceased King Christian VI by his widowed wife. Completed in 1768, the monument was not installed in Roskilde Cathedral until 1777. The sarcophagus with two figures, Sorgen and Berømmelsen is considered to be Denmarks first Neoclassical work. Wiedewelt went on to large collections of sculptures for gardens such as those at Fredensborg Palace. The memorial chapel was the result of collaboration between Wiedewelt and the architect Caspar Frederik Harsdorff, Wiedewelt was chosen for eight annual periods as Director of the Academy between 1772 and 1794. Bertel Thorvaldsen is the most famous Danish sculptor, recognised across Europe as one of the leading Neoclassical sculptors, after entering the Art Academy in Copenhagen when he was only 11, he went on to win all four of the institutions medals. In 1796, he received a stipend for a short study tour to Italy but, apart from a short visit to Denmark in 1819. After a model for his statue of Jason and the Golden Fleece received recognition from the leading Italian sculptor of the day, Antonio Canova, his success was ensured. Thorvaldsen gradually employed numerous assistants, extending his work to be executed in five studios in Rome, among his most important works are the colossal series of statues of Christ and the twelve Apostles for the rebuilding of Vor Frue Kirke in Copenhagen. His works can be seen in many European countries, but there is a large collection at the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen. During his stay in Rome, Thorvaldsen played an important role in encouraging young Danish artists spending time in the city and his masterpiece, the Ragnarok Freize, which occupied him for many years, was completed by Bissen after his death but was later destroyed by the Christianborg fire. There is a plaster cast of part of the freize in Statens Museum for Kunst, herman Wilhelm Bissen, initially a Neoclassicist, is remembered for the Realism of his monumental works celebrating Danish military victories while reflecting the nationalistic trend of the times
12.
Sport in Denmark
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The national sport is football with the most notable results being qualifying for the European Championships six times in a row and winning the Championship in 1992. Other significant achievements include winning the Confederations Cup in 1995 and reaching the final of the 1998 World Cup. Other popular sports include handball, cycling, sailing sports, badminton, ice hockey, swimming, a few youths also play Basketball. Sport is encouraged in school, and there are sports clubs in all cities. The national stadium for football is the Parken Stadium, Football is the most popular sport in Denmark, with over 313,000 players in more than 1600 clubs. The national football team in Denmark have reached high and notable results, like qualifying for the European Championships six times in a row, other significant achievements include winning the Confederations Cup in 1995 and reaching the quarter final of the 1998 World Cup. Denmark national football team reached #3 ranking in the FIFA ranking in May 1997, the top-league in Danish football is called The Danish Superliga. The reigning champions are F. C. Copenhagen, while they are also the most successful ever in financial terms. Famous Superliga players include Per Nielsen, Jimmy Nielsen, Michael Hansen, Mogens Krogh, the second level league is the Danish 1st Division, which was last won by Lyngby Boldklub. The third tier is made up of the two Danish 2nd Divisions, East and West, the last two champions were NordVest and Blokhus FC. The fourth tier is the Denmark Series, which is split into three pools, the last champions were BK Marienlyst, IF Skjold Birkerød and Kjellerup IF. The top womens league is the Elitedivisionen, most recently won by Fortuna Hjørring, HEI Aarhus are the most successful team, with 10 titles. The premier cup competition is the Danish Cup, won in 2016 by F. C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen are also the last winners of the Danish Supercup, back in 2004, of which Brøndby IF are the most successful club. Brøndby are the winners of the twice-held Danish League Cup. The Danish Womens Cup has been won the last three times in a row by Brøndby IF, and seven overall by Fortuna Hjørring. The current manager of the team is Åge Hareide. Legendary former players include Poul Tist Nielsen, Peter Schmeichel, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Allan Simonsen, golf has become a highly popular sport in recent years in Denmark with more than 180 courses across the country. Golf is mostly popular among the demographic, with more members over the age of 24 than any other sport in Denmark
13.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
14.
Runic inscriptions
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A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of Elder Futhark, Anglo-Frisian Futhorc and Younger Futhark, the total 350 known inscriptions in the Elder Futhark script fall into two main geographical categories, North Germanic and Continental or South Germanic. These inscriptions are on many types of objects, but the North Germanic tradition shows a preference for bracteates. The precise figures are debatable because some inscriptions are very short and/or illegible so that it is whether they qualify as an inscription at all. The division into Scandinavian, North Sea, and South Germanic inscription makes sense from the 5th century, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, the Elder Futhark script is still in its early phase of development, with inscriptions concentrated in what is now Denmark and Northern Germany. The tradition of runic literacy continues in Scandinavia into the Viking Age, close to 6,000 Younger Futhark inscriptions are known, many of them on runestones. Of 366 lances excavated at Illerup, only 2 bore inscriptions, the actual number was probably considerably higher, maybe close to 400,000 in total, so that of the order of 0. Especially the earliest inscriptions are found on all types of everyday objects, later, a preference for valuable or prestigious objects seems to develop, inscriptions often indicating ownership. Their distribution is limited to southern Scandinavia, northern Germany and Frisia, with stray finds associated with the Goths from Romania. Linguistically, the 3rd and 4th centuries correspond to the formation of Proto-Norse, just predating the separation of West Germanic into Anglo-Frisian, Low German, the highest concentration of Elder Futhark inscriptions is in Denmark. An important Proto-Norse inscription was on one of the Golden horns of Gallehus, a total of 133 known inscriptions on bracteates. The oldest known runestones date to the early 5th century, the transition to Younger Futhark begins from the 6th century, with transitional examples like the Björketorp or Stentoften stones. In the early 9th century, both the older and the younger futhark were known and used, which is shown on the Rök Runestone, by the 10th century, only Younger Futhark remained in use. Some 100 items spanning the 5th to 11th centuries, the 5th-century Undley bracteate is considered the earliest known Anglo-Frisian inscription. There are a number of Christian inscriptions from the time of Christianization. St. Cuthberts coffin, dated to 698, even has a monogram of Christ. The Ruthwell Cross inscription could also be mentioned, but its authenticity is dubious, a type of object unique to Christianized Anglo-Saxon England are the six known Anglo-Saxon runic rings of the 9th to 10th centuries. The cessation of both the Gothic and Alemannic runic tradition coincides with the Christianization of the respective peoples, lüthi identifies a total of about 81 continental inscriptions found south of the North Germanic Koine
15.
Alliterative verse
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Alliterative verse can be found in many other languages as well. The Finnish Kalevala and the Estonian Kalevipoeg both use alliterative forms derived from folk tradition, traditional Turkic verse, for example that of the Uyghur, is also alliterative. Knowledge about that common tradition, however, is based almost entirely on inference from later poetry, one statement we have about the nature of alliterative verse from a practicing alliterative poet is that of Snorri Sturluson in the Prose Edda. He describes metrical patterns and poetic devices used by skaldic poets around the year 1200, snorris description has served as the starting point for scholars to reconstruct alliterative meters beyond those of Old Norse. There have been many different metrical theories proposed, all of them attended with controversy, looked at broadly, however, certain basic features are common from the earliest to the latest poetry. Alliterative verse has been found in some of the earliest monuments of Germanic literature, originally all alliterative poetry was composed and transmitted orally, and much went unrecorded. The degree to which writing may have altered this oral art form remains much in dispute, nevertheless, there is a broad consensus among scholars that the written verse retains many of the features of the spoken language. The core metrical features of traditional Germanic alliterative verse are as follows, they can be seen in the Gallehus inscription above, half-lines are also known as verses, hemistichs, or distichs, the first is called the a-verse, the second the b-verse. The rhythm of the b-verse is generally more regular than that of the a-verse, a heavy pause, or cæsura, separates the verses. Each verse usually has two heavily stressed syllables, referred to as lifts or beats, the first lift in the a-verse alliterates with the first lift in the b-verse. The second lift in the b-verse does not alliterate with the first lifts, some of these fundamental rules varied in certain traditions over time. Unlike in post-medieval English accentual verse, in which a syllable is stressed or unstressed. If it contains no stress-words, the syllables of any particles will be the lift. Rarely, even a proclitic can be the lift, either there are no more heavily stressed syllables or because it is given extra stress for some particular reason. If a lift was occupied by word with a short vowel followed by only one consonant followed by an unstressed vowel these two syllables were in most circumstances counted as only one syllable. The patterns of unstressed syllables vary significantly in the traditions of different Germanic languages. The rules for these patterns remain imperfectly understood and subject to debate, alliteration fits naturally with the prosodic patterns of early Germanic languages. Alliteration essentially involves matching the left edges of stressed syllables, early Germanic languages share a left-prominent prosodic pattern
16.
Saxo Grammaticus
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Saxo Grammaticus, also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund and he is the author of the first full history of Denmark. The Jutland Chronicle gives evidence that Saxo was born in Zealand and it is unlikely he was born before 1150 and it is supposed that his death could have occurred around 1220. His name Saxo was a name in medieval Denmark. The name Grammaticus was first given to him in the Jutland Chronicle and he lived in a period of warfare and Danish expansion, led by Archbishop Absalon and the Valdemars. The Danes were also being threatened by the Wends who were making raids across the border, Valdemar I had also just won a civil war and later Valdemar II led an expedition across the Elbe to invade Holstein. Sven Aggesen, a Danish nobleman and author of an earlier history of Denmark than Saxos, describes his contemporary, Saxo. This gives evidence that Saxo and Sven might have soldiered in the Hird or royal guard since Sven used the word contubernium in reference to them, there is also a Saxo to be found on a list of clergy at Lund, where there was a Sven recorded as Archdeacon. Likewise there is Dean Saxo who died in 1190, however the date does not match what is known about Saxo. Both arguments, for a secular or religious Saxo, would confirm that he was educated, as clergy he would have received training in Latin. Saxo comes from a family and writes that he is himself committed to being a soldier. He tells us that he follows the ancient right of hereditary service, Saxos education and ability supports the idea that he was educated outside Denmark. Some suggest the title Grammaticus refers not to his education but rather his elaborate Latin style and we know from his writing that he was in the retinue and received the patronage of Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, who was the foremost advisor to King Valdemar I. In his will Absalon forgives his clerk Saxo a small debt of two and a half marks of silver and tells him to return two borrowed books to the monastery of Sorø, the legacy of Saxo Grammaticus is the sixteen book heroic history of the Danes called Gesta Danorum. In the preface to the work, Saxo writes that his patron Absalon, the history is thought to have been started about 1185, after Sven Aggesen wrote his history. The goal of Gesta Danorum was as Saxo writes to glorify our fatherland, Saxo also may have owed much to Plato, Cicero and also to more contemporary writers like Geoffrey of Monmouth. Saxos history of the Danes was compiled from sources that are of historical value. He drew on oral tales of the Icelanders, ancient volumes, letters carved on rocks and stone, the history is composed of sixteen books and extends from the time of the founders of the Danish people, Dan I of Denmark and Angul into about the year 1187
17.
Gesta Danorum
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Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus. It is the most ambitious undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nations early history. It is also one of the oldest known documents about the history of Estonia and Latvia. The sixteen books, in prose with an excursion into poetry. Book 9 ends with Gorm the Old, the first factual documented King of Denmark, book 14 contains a unique description of the temple at Rügen Island. When exactly Gesta Danorum was written is the subject of works, however. The last event described in the last book is King Canute VI of Denmark subduing Pomerania under Duke Bogislaw I, however the preface of the work, dictated to Archbishop Anders Sunesen, mentions the Danish conquest of the areas north of the Elbe river in 1208. Book 14, comprising nearly one-quarter of the text of the entire work, since this book is so large and Absalon has greater importance than King Valdemar I, this book may have been written first and comprised a work on its own. It is possible that Saxo then enlarged it with Books 15 and 16, telling the story of King Valdemar Is last years and it is believed that Saxo then wrote Books 11,12, and 13. Svend Aagesens history of Denmark, Brevis Historia Regum Dacie, states that Saxo had decided to write about The king-father and his sons, which would be King Sweyn Estridson, in Books 11,12 and he would later add the first ten books. This would also explain the 22 years between the last event described in the last book and the 1208 event described in the preface, the original manuscripts of the work are lost, except for four fragments, the Angers Fragment, Lassen Fragment, Kall-Rasmussen Fragment and Plesner Fragment. The Angers Fragment is the biggest fragment, and the only one attested to be in Saxo’s own handwriting, the other ones are copies from ca. All four fragments are in the collection of the Danish Royal Library in Copenhagen, in 1510-1512, Christiern Pedersen, a Danish translator working in Paris, searched Denmark high and low for an existing copy of Saxo’s works, which by that time was nearly all but lost. By that time most knowledge of Saxo’s work came from a summary located in Chronica Jutensis, from around 1342 and it is also in this summary that the name Gesta Danorum is found. The title Saxo himself used for his work is unknown, Christiern Pedersen finally found a copy in the collection of Archbishop Birger Gunnersen of Lund, modern Sweden, which he gladly lent him. With the help of printer Jodocus Badius, Gesta Danorum was refined and printed, the edition features the following colophon. impressit in inclyta Parrhisorum academia Iodocus Badius Ascensius Idibus Martiis. The source of all existing translations and new editions is Christiern Pedersens Latin Danorum Regum heroumque Historiae,1540, Lost Jon Tursons, never published ca. Volume 1 includes books I-X and Volume 2 includes books XI-XVI, hermann Jantzen, published 1900, title, Saxo Grammaticus
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Reformation
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The period is usually considered to have begun with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Luther in 1517 to the Thirty Years War and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura, the initial movement within Germany diversified, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The spread of Gutenbergs printing press provided the means for the dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular. The largest groups were the Lutherans and Calvinists, Lutheran churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The new movement influenced the Church of England decisively after 1547 under Edward VI and Elizabeth I, there were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the Radical Reformation, which gave rise to the Anabaptist, Moravian and other Pietistic movements. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent, much work in battling Protestantism was done by the well-organised new order of the Jesuits. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the Thirty Years War, which left it devastated. The oldest Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum and Moravian Church, the later Protestant Churches generally date their doctrinal separation from the Roman Catholic Church to the 16th century. The Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church, by priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice. They especially objected to the teaching and the sale of indulgences, and the abuses thereof, and to simony, the reformers saw these practices as evidence of the systemic corruption of the Churchs hierarchy, which included the pope. Unrest due to the Great Schism of Western Christianity excited wars between princes, uprisings among the peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church, New perspectives came from John Wycliffe at Oxford University and from Jan Hus at the Charles University in Prague. Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone, the Roman Catholic Church officially concluded this debate at the Council of Constance by condemning Hus, who was executed by burning despite a promise of safe-conduct. Wycliffe was posthumously condemned as a heretic and his corpse exhumed and burned in 1428, the Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. The council did not address the national tensions or the theological tensions stirred up during the century and could not prevent schism. Pope Sixtus IV established the practice of selling indulgences to be applied to the dead, Pope Alexander VI was one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes. He was the father of seven children, including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, in response to papal corruption, particularly the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses. The Reformation was born of Luthers dual declaration – first, the discovering of Jesus and salvation by faith alone, the Protestant reformers were unanimous in agreement and this understanding of prophecy furnished importance to their deeds. It was the point and the battle cry that made the Reformation nearly unassailable
19.
Christiern Pedersen
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Christiern Pedersen was a Danish canon, humanist scholar, writer, printer and publisher. Christiern Pedersen was born in Helsingør, Denmark and he was schooled in Roskilde and studied from 1496 at the University of Greifswald. He received a degree in 1498 and from 1505 was a canon at Lund Cathedral. He studied at the University of Paris from 1508 to 1515, during his stay in Paris he developed an interest in writing, translating and publishing. At that time Paris was the capital of the still-new printing press. In 1510 he published his new Latin-Danish lexicon, called Vocabularium ad usum Dacorum and he wanted to re-publish the huge 300-year-old chronicle of Denmark, Gesta Danorum, written by Saxo Grammaticus, but he did not know the location of the original manuscript. At that time the most knowledge of this came from a summary called Compendium Saxonis located in Chronica Jutensis. Undoubtedly this is also how Pedersen knew of it, Pedersen began to send letters to friends all over Denmark, trying to locate the original Saxo work, but they either did not have it or did not want to release it to him. He finally travelled to Denmark to search libraries and monasteries. Unexpectedly a letter arrived from Archbishop Birger Gunnersen of Lund stating that he had found a copy in his district and this is today the oldest known complete copy of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum. In 1516, Pedersen returned to Lund and worked for Archbishop Birger Gunnersen, in 1522, he became Kanzler under the new Archbishop, Johann Wess. However, during the reign of the next Archbishop, Aage Sparre, Pedersen was accused of treason, among other things, resulting in Pedersen leaving for Germany. As he was loyal to King Christian II, he followed him in exile to the Netherlands in 1526, after meeting him in Berlin, in 1529, he renounced his Catholicism and became Lutheran. Consequently, Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Low Countries asked Christian II to dismiss him and he did not return to Denmark before 1532, and got permission to settle in Malmø, where he opened a printing press shop. His continued loyalty towards King Christian II gained him no friends among the nobility and he married Else Jacobsdatter in 1534 in Malmø, who died during childbirth in 1539. Pedersen sold his printing shop and moved to Copenhagen in 1541. During these years he translated the Bible to Danish and this was to become his lifes work, which sometimes earns him the title the father of Danish literature. Finished in 1543, but first published in 1550, this work, Biblia, was not only a masterpiece of translation and this is the first complete Danish Bible translation
20.
New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
21.
Thomas Kingo
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Thomas Hansen Kingo was a Danish bishop, poet and hymn-writer born at Slangerup, near Copenhagen. His work marked the point of Danish baroque poetry. He belonged to a poor family partly of Scottish origin and was educated a clergyman. In his youth, Kingo wrote a series of poems picturing humorous scenes in village life and he studied theology at the University of Copenhagen, graduating in 1654, and for some time acted as private tutor. In 1661 he was appointed vicar to the pastor at Kirke Helsinge, and in 1668 he was ordained a minister at his native town, where his poetic activity began. At first he essayed patriotic poems, but later devoted himself almost entirely to writing hymns and this work consists of a collection of beautiful hymns several of which are still popular in the Danish Church. In 1677 Kingo was appointed bishop of Funen, some parts of the Danish rural population were firmly sticking to his hymns during the pietist and rationalist period contributing to their survival. Though not the first Danish hymn writer Kingo must be considered the first real important one and his hymns are born by a forceful and often Old Testamental wrath and renunciation of the world switching with Christian mildness and confidence. Both elements are thrown in relief by his private thrift and fighting nature
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