Frederik's Church

Frederik's Church ( _da. Frederiks Kirke), popularly known as "The Marble Church" ( _da. Marmorkirken) is a church in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

The church was designed by the architect Nicolai Eigtved in 1740 and was along with the rest of Frederiksstad, a district of Copenhagen, intended to be a monument to the 300 jubilee of the first crowning of a member of the House of Oldenburg.

Frederik's Church has the largest church dome in Scandinavia with a span of 31m. The dome rests on 12 columns. The inspiration was probably the Pantheon in Rome.

The foundation stone was set by king Frederick V on October 31 1749, but the construction was slowed by budget cuts and the death of Eigtved in 1754 and in 1770 the original plans for the church were discarded by Johann Friedrich Struensee. The church was left incomplete and stood in spite of several initiatives to complete it as a ruin for nearly 150 years.

The present version of the church was designed by Ferdinand Meldahl and financed by Carl Frederik Tietgen. It was opened August 19 1894.

External links

* [http://www.marmorkirken.dk/ Official website]