SKT. NIKOLAJ KIRKE - Danmarks Kirker - Nationalmuseet

808 KOLDING SKT. NIKOLAJ KIRKE
the whole tripartite nave and partly also of the
chapels, the church acquired its present Baroquelike
interior (fig. 39). The ground plan remained
the same, but the exterior of the new, heightened
building came to appear with dressed, pilastered
facades and hipped gables. The work was planned
in 1750-52 by the builders Cay Stallknecht and
Cornelius Hansen, but (from 1753) was carried
out under the supervision of the German-born
Samuel Zimmermann. In principle it was his task
to rebuild the church in its old form, but with
flat wooden ceilings above the nave and chapels.
Only when the old church had been pulled
down and new foundations had been laid did
he and the administrators of the church force a
change in the existing plans in favour of brick
vaults. Kolding thus acquired one of Jutland’s few
large Baroque churches. In the light interior the
formal idiom of the eighteenth century mainly
comes to expression in the large, grooved vault
pillars, whose bases are visible above the pews
and whose profiled capitals (fig. 42) give an impression
of great strength.
The renewal of the chancel and the heightening of
the tower, 1885-86 (cf. fig. 14d). The exterior of
the Baroque church was to stand for c. 130 years.
After the two side chapels had again been given
corbie gables in 1866 and 1876, in 1885-86 another
radical rebuilding took place, giving the
church its present form. The work was planned
by the architect H. B. Storck (cf. his drawings, figs.
46-47), but with minor changes was completed
by Vilhelm Ahlmann. The chancel was rebuilt,
keeping the Gothic ground plan, and after the
model of Skt. Peders Kirke in Næstved the walls
were heightened so that the roof is now flush
with that of the nave. At the same time the tower
was increased by a storey and furnished with a
striking spire. With new ogival windows and a
stepped frieze under the cornice the red brick
church now appears entirely in a neo-Gothic
guise.
A mortuary chapel at the north side of the chancel
was built in 1932 (architect Ernst Petersen),
and a baptismal waiting room on the north side of
the tower in 1957 (architect Helge Holm). The
church was most recently restored by the archi-
tect Rolf Graae in 1975-77. The stained glass in
the five large chancel windows (figs. 51-52) was
made after a proposal by the painter Kræsten
Iversen and completed in 1950. It consists of a
theological, salvational programme, partly (in the
east window) a robust commentary on the recently
concluded world war and the German occupation
of Denmark, compared to the drowning
of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. The present
stained glass replaced German-made (†)glass
mosaics from 1886, which were partly destroyed
by bombing in 1945. Preserved *panes from this
were installed in the chapel of the Old Churchyard.
A stained glass work in the sacristy by the
painter Johan Vilhelm Andersen is from 1964.
FURNISHINGS. The church has valuable furnishings
from all the centuries of its existence. Its
Late Medieval furnishings include a magnificent
*chasuble (no. 1), a holy rood and 12 (†)choir
stalls from 1520; a large Late Gothic *high altarpiece
which is now in Egtved Church was probably
from here too. Also from pre-Reformation
times comes the so-called Swedish Bell, which
seems to have come to the city as war booty from
the Kalmar War in 1611-13.
Most of the furnishings come from the Renaissance.
The main items were donated by the Lord
Lieutenant Caspar Markdanner, for example the
magnificent, theologically interesting altarpiece
from 1589 and the pulpit from 1591. The rare
limestone font is a little later, and is the work of
the local castle sculptor Claus Lauritzen from
1619; its richly carved canopy is from 1636 and
a baptismal painting was donated for installation
by the font by the Castle Clerk Henry Splet in
1626. Also from the time of Christian IV are a
(†)chancel rail donated in 1638 by the apothecary’s
wife Margrethe Reiminck, two chandeliers
(nos. 1-2), two candle arms (nos. 1-2) and two
bells, the work of the local founder Adam Nielsen
grydestøber. The Storm Bell (no. 2) is from 1613
and the Prayer Bell (no. 3) is from 1615.
Some of the smaller furnishings too go back to
the Renaissance, for example a *chalice (no. 1)
from 1581, which is a gift from the Castle Clerk
Jokum Arp’s wife Anna, and the so-called Val-