St. Peter's Church, Bornholm
St. Peter's Church, or Sankt Peders Kirke in Danish, is a Romanesque parish church about 6 km east of Aakirkeby on the Danish island of Bornholm. It is thought to be the oldest church on the island, dating from the 10th or 11th century. The earliest written reference is from 1429, and the chancel is likely the oldest part of the building, possibly standing alone for a time.
The church has a Romanesque nave, chancel and apse, all built from local limestone. A simple fieldstone tower at the west end of the nave was probably added in the late 1500s and is first mentioned in 1624. A south porch was completed in 1864, probably on the site of an earlier Romanesque structure. Traces of older windows remain in the apse and chancel but are now bricked up. The nave originally had windows on both sides, but only the northwestern one still exists.
The font is Gotland-made from the late Romanesque period (about 1575); other furnishings are relatively new. The altar was rebuilt in 1854 and features an altarpiece from 1876 painted by C. Christian Andersen, showing Christ and the Canaanite Woman. The simple pulpit was made by Anders Jensen in 1845. The organ, built in 1968 by Frobenius, is part of the church today.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:14 (CET).