SKT. NIKOLAJ KIRKE - Danmarks Kirker - Nationalmuseet

806 KOLDING SKT. NIKOLAJ KIRKE
Fig. 236. Opstalt af barokkirkens nordside. 1:300. Usigneret tegning af L. A. Winstrup o. 1863 i kirken. – The north
facade of the Barouque church.
nave (the three-aisled hall) must be reconstructed
on the basis of the few sections of the walls that
remain after the rebuilding of 1753-58. Of the
lower walls, parts are preserved in the south side
aisle, whose east wall contains a round-arched
altar niche (fig. 23). Most informative is the
top section of the old west gable of the church,
which is encased in the added tower (cf. fig. 19).
Here we see a large cinquefoil recess, and below
it one of two round-arched twin windows. These
remains show that the church was built as a 20 m
wide, slightly stocky building whose roof ridge
lay a good 3 m below that of the present church.
Inside we must imagine a somewhat cramped interior
with low spanning arches in the side aisles
and rather dim lighting. Stylistically we are in the
transition between Romanesque and Gothic, and
as a type this hall church (German: Backsteinhalle)
has parallels in northern Germany, especially the
well preserved town church in Burg on the island
of Femern off the German Baltic coast. The
large cinquefoil recess of the gable is only known
from a couple of other Danish churches: Nysogn
Church in western Jutland from the middle of
the 1200s and the now demolished †Franciscan
church in Svendborg on Funen, which was consecrated
in 1361.
Late Medieval additions (cf. fig. 14b). Around
1400-1525 three still-preserved but much
changed additions were made to the medieval
building. The tower at the western end of the
church was covered until 1886 by a pitched roof