Denmark 14 - Roskilde - a tale of two Queens/the burial place of royalty / half price because of a wedding and a Prince who did not want to be buried with his wife

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After our visit to the Viking ships it was time to walk across the nearby park up to the city centre and the cathedral . For once we were climbing uphill which was a novelty as everything was normally flat . A cathedral noted to be the burial place of all the Danish Kings and Queens . The cathedral was a striking building set in quite an empty square and is part of teh Lutheran church of Denmark. It is the official royal burial church of Denmark . It is over 800 years old and is one of the earliest examples of Gothic architecture built in brick . It was constructed during the 12th and 13th centuries . It had of course been extended and altered over many centuries .

STanding in front it was fair to say that it was imposing. Roskilde was named as the new capital of Denmark by Harald Bluetooth in or around the year 960. The date of the inaugeration of the bishops of Roskilde is unknown but bishops from England were sent over by Sweyn Forkbeard and continued through Cnut the Great. So we were standing in front of a structure of great age and which had much significance . The cathedral we stood in front of may have started its life much simpler around 1026. Funded many times it was built , rebuilt and changed over time . In 1157 the art of firing bricks was brought back from Italy and the current cathedral benefitted from being built completely in brick .

We walked around the building and quickly found the way in . The staff were all smiling and all welcoming . We have a wedding today we were told . We wont charge you for both entries as you have only an hour to see the building . We will charge you just for one entry which was a bonus . The only problem with that meant that we had to race round very quickly . The problem with that was there was much to see . The cathedral was in the main completed by 1280 and in use . Chapels were added and two towers by 1425. We were reading up on the chapels as we walked quickly from one to the next one .

Inside as in many churches we had visited it seemed the walls were whitewashed and plain . Here and there were some frescoes but being Lutheran the cathedral was not ornamented that much . The windows were mainly clear with little or no stained glass . The High Altar was a stunning golden affair. Some chapels were open and members of the public milled around checking them out . Others were closed in by large metal gates . People peered through at the coffins within . Some coffins were hidden in the crypts . Lead lined ancient ones sitting in gloomy darkness beneath in vaults . The burials were interesting in that they showed how death was portrayed and commemorated through the ages .

The latest Queen who has officially today become the longest serving monarch due to our Queen Elizabeth II passing away recently has already had her sarcophagus designed . A glass case sits above three basalt slabs each decorated with silver elephants who stand on a sandstone base . Apparently she picked this design many years ago . It was not the usual sort of memorial but something totally out of kilter with everything else we were seeing . The story goes her playboy French husband Prince Henrik was annoyed with her when she became Queen and named him Prince Consort . He felt he should have been King Consort and when he died he had left instructions he was to be cremated and he did not wish to be buried with his wife . He felt that he was not equal in life therefore he did not want to be buried with her. His ashes were scattered at sea and in the grounds of the Fredericksburg palace . It felt odd to imagine that going on in the UK . Prince Philip was never equal . He always walked two steps behind his wife but he was buried with much pomp and ceremony in St Georges Chapel Windsor . His wife would soon to be joining him . The playboy Prince of Denmark had had his own way in the end.

As we walked around from chapel to chapel it was evident just how much tombs had changed through the ages . The older ones were black which felt appropriate for death. Very little ornamentation . However as the years progressed even the black tombs were embellished with silver or gold decorations . Some tombs were plain stone whilst others had heraldic symbols and the names of the monarchs carved into them . If you can have a favourite then we each made different choices . As we got to the 19th century the tombs became more intricated and patterned . Each monarch had an idea how they wanted to be remembered . One of stone looked like carved limed wood . In some ways it seem macabre looking at some many coffins .

I dont think I have ever seen so many royal tombs in one place . There was something mesmerising about these monuments to death . Each chapel had a different look . The Chapel of the Magi was built by Christian I as a sepulchre and burial vault for himself and his queen. Two of his children were buried under the floor of the chapel . The ceiling was decorated with frescoes.

Down a walkway we came across Frederik V's chapel which was completed in 1789. He considered himself an absolute monarch and wanted to be glorified and buried with the same honours as roman emperors . His monument was white with two women statues grieving for the dead king. We found that some of the tombs were pretentious whilst others were more grander than others . Felt seemed a good choice for some of the coffins . The choice of fabric and design was changing every time we moved from one chapel to the next .

The time was ticking by . We could see that we probably would not see everything . In the end we had to give up. The flower arrangers were probably outside waiting to come in . We left the chapels and headed back to Gabby . We had a date with another castle . This time Hamlet would be the backstory .

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