Friday 16 November 2012

The medieval Church of St. Mary in Helsingborg



The medieval Church of St. Mary (14th - 15th cent.) is oldest building in Helsingborg. It replaced a small sandstone church in the same spot. At the time it was one of the Denmark's biggest town churches. (Scania and Helsingborg became part of Sweden in 1658).

My own favorite among the treasures in the St. Mary's is the altarpiece, which depicts scenes of the life of St. Mary and the childhood years of Jesus. The altarpiece is dated to the middle of the 15th century, and is considered to be of North German (probably Lübeckian) origin. 




Composer Dieterich Buxtehude, who followed his father as organist of the St. Mary's in 1658, must have had many opportunities to admire the work of the German craftsmanship ...





PS

Had Buxtehude been active now, he would probably have enjoyed the beautiful Marcussen and Son organ from 1959:



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