All language subtitles for 1947. Carl Theodor Dreyer - Landsbykirken (EN)

The Danish Film Museum presents:

THE VILLAGE CHURCH

In Denmark there are more
than 2,000 village churches.

They are almost all
between 700 and 800 years old.

25 generations have
come and gone in them,

through changing times,
in joy and in sorrow.

Large forests provided the oak
for the first Danish churches.

They consisted of a small choir
to the east and a nave to the west.

We only have a few planks left
of those churches,

but in other Nordic countries
mediaeval wood churches still exist.

The congregation
assembled in the nave.

In the choir, the priest celebrated
Holy Mass at the altar.

Across Denmark, huge boulders
lay spread out after the ice age.

From them, parish churches
were built in the 12th century,

when Christianity prevailed.

Building in stone
was something quite new.

The house of God
should last for eternity.

Churches were built in the Romanesque
style with round arches

during this first great
church-building period.

Almost all old churches still
have stone walls from that time.

The windows were small
and placed high up the walls,

close to the raftered ceiling.

They gave only a very subdued light,
but more was not needed,

because when the congregation sang,
it was without a hymn book.

Otherwise, they were just
spectators in the audience.

Think of the day
when you were baptised.

For then you promise

to honour and worship Christ,

King of Kings,
and Lord of Lords,

and you promise to renounce
the devil and all his works.

The font was by the door, for baptism
was the door to the Kingdom of God.

Some of the oldest stone churches
are built from travertine.

It is also called ''froth stone'',
because it looks like froth.

Some Romanesque stone churches
have a tower to the west.

Some even have twin towers.

To the east
they have the round choir.

The choir vault, just like the walls,
was a picture Bible of frescoes.

Here, the congregation could see
stories from the Bible and legends.

In the name of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I take you to be my wedded wife.

I take you to be my wedded husband.

The towers stand mighty and strong.

From them, then as now,
the bells called to service,

or they tolled when there was a death
or a funeral, or in case of danger.

During periods of unrest,
the church was used as a refuge.

People left their houses built of mud

and sought protection
behind the heavy stone walls.

From around 1250,
a new style appeared in Denmark.

It was the Gothic style
with pointed arches

and soaring lines.

Through the large lancet windows,
light flooded inside.

The nave was also completely
transformed in the Gothic style.

The old wooden ceilings
were replaced by brick vaults

and the slender, soaring ribs
met in pointed arches.

Some of the churches
acquired two naves

where the old Romanesque naves
were so broad

that they could not be covered
by one line of vaults.

Then central columns were raised,
with two sets of vaults at the walls.

Under these vaults,
the church lived its life,

watching over people
from baptism to death,

and from death into eternity.

The art of burning bricks
came to the country around 1160.

The large, red mediaeval bricks
were used more and more,

particularly for
all the Gothic additions.

Churches were given
towers and sacristies,

porches and chapels,

and a few large village churches
acquired three naves.

The church interiors were greatly
influenced by the Reformation,

even if some of the old furniture
was preserved.

The font was preserved, but a basin
of pewter or brass was placed on top,

and from then on, children
were baptised as they are today.

In the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Also preserved was the carved
grouping of the crucified Christ

with Mary and John
at the foot of the cross.

The finely carved altarpiece
was also allowed to stay put

as long as it was
of a general nature.

Most of the Catholic images
of saints were removed.

The pulpit was placed
in the middle of the church.

Preaching became one of the most
important parts of the service,

and during the long sermons
the congregation had to sit

so the church
was filled with church pews.

Let us not rely on deeds

or on the constraints of the law,

but solely on the word of the Gospel,
which comforts the conscience.

Through life's vicissitudes,
the church provided a focus.

The peasants got together here
when the secular authorities called

for a parish meeting in the vestry.

It has come to our notice

that there is much idolatry
in the parish

with geese, lambs and chickens
being sacrificed

according to ancient customs.

The village church is today
the oldest building in the parish,

but is not the same
as when it was built.

Both the Catholic and Protestant
tradition have shaped it.

800 years of Denmark's history
have left their mark on its churches.

Through the ages, so much
has been added and changed

that we have to remove the additions
in order to see the Romanesque core.

The north chapel is the most recent
addition, built around 1600.

The sacristy is the next most recent.

It goes back to Gothic times,
to the end of the Middle Ages.

The porch is a little older,
but it is still Gothic.

The Corbie gables on the nave
and the choir are from the same time,

as is the tower.

And then we are left
with the oldest stone church,

the small Romanesque building
with only a choir and a nave.

Inside the church, we can
also go back through the ages.

The altarpiece is from
Protestant times

and in the style of
the older absolute monarchy.

The pulpit is from the time
of Christian IV.

The crucifix and the figures
are now placed on the choir wall,

but were placed over the choir arch
in Catholic times.

The Virgin Mary with the Christ child
once stood on a Catholic side altar.

The font is Romanesque,
from the earliest time of the church.

But only a few steps away
is the modern organ.

Built on the Rock
the Church doth stand

Even when steeples are falling

Crumbled have spires in every land

Bells are still chiming and calling

Calling the young and old to rest

But above all the soul distressed

Longing for rest everlasting.