A Little History Lesson

For those of you who don’t know I love history!!  And it always amazes me when I am somewhere where there is history that is so old!  Well here in Ringsted, Denmark there is some amazing history.  So here is your history lesson for this area of Denmark.  I went for a short walk today and headed into town which is less than 1km from where we are staying.

Just across from the town square in Ringsted is a huge church, St. Bendt’s Church.  It is all that is left of Ringsted Kloster, a Benedictine Monastery that burned down in the early 18^th century.  But it goes back much further than that.

It dates back to about 1170 when it replaced a travertine church from about 1080. It is considered to be one of Denmark's architecturally finest churches. Furthermore, it is of special historical interest as it is first Royal church in Denmark and it houses the tombs of many of Denmark's earlier monarchs and noblemen.

The church was originally dedicated to St. Mary. In 1157, Saint Canute Lavard's bones were moved into a new chapel in the church with the approval of St. Canute's son, Valdemar the Great. Many miracles were said to have occurred there and the church immediately became a popular site for pilgrimages. With the funds raised from the pilgrims and thanks to Valdemar's royal patronage, the abbey church was expanded and, in 1170, was dedicated with great ceremony to Benedict of Nursia.

Valdemar had from the beginning designed the church for the Danish monarchy. He took advantage of the inaugural celebrations not only to have the relics of his father, St. Canute, enshrined but, also a devil statue erected in his honor and above all, to have his seven-year-old son Canute crowned and appointed by the archbishop in order to ensure the succession.

I could go into the history of Valdemar but it would go on for a while, suffice to say he was King of Denmark from 1146 – 1182 and his tomb is located in this church.

From 1182 to 1341 all Danish Kings and Queens were buried in St. Bendt’s and after 1341 they were then buried at the Roskilde Cathedral.

Part of the painted ceiling



It was amazing walking through this beautiful church, with original carvings on the floor, extremely old artifacts on display in cabinets and the beautifully painted ceilings, you could feel the history and I was actually able to feel like I was part of it for a short time.

Today was my recovery day and it was really nice to take the time by myself to explore some of the amazing history in this town.  But it is now down to the pointy end of the journey.  Racing starts tomorrow, but I don’t race until Friday.  All the Australian riders are ready to do their best, unfortunately we have lost one of the men’s tandem pair due to a crash yesterday, a broken collar bone and bruised hip.  But as the pilot Scott wrote on his Facebook page “Fate doesn't always deal the ideal hand! But some things are just out of our control.”  Very wise words from a young man who had an amazing cycling future ahead of him.

Next stop, Roskilde and the Time Trial!