Dalby Church
The Church of the Holy Cross in Dalby is probably the oldest surviving stone church in Scandinavia. It was built around 1060, when Dalby was briefly the seat of a bishop. Beneath the choir lies a crypt as still as the church is plain.
When Denmark was divided into new dioceses around 1060, Dalby was for a short period the seat of a bishop, Egino. The church was built then, around 1060, and is thus probably the oldest stone church in Scandinavia still standing. It was part of a larger complex with a royal estate and later an Augustinian priory. When the archbishopric was established in Lund in 1103–1104, Dalby lost its importance as a bishop’s seat. The building has walls of local sandstone and limestone and was probably built by masons with models in Germany.
The church was originally a basilica with a tall nave and lower aisles, closed to the west by a westwork with towers. In the 12th century the choir was extended and a crypt was built beneath it. The crypt has groin vaults carried by short, sturdy piers and resembles the crypt of Lund Cathedral. Later the nave was vaulted as well.
After the Reformation the priory was dissolved and the complex became a royal estate. Parts of the church were demolished, and it became smaller than it had been. The church has been restored several times, most recently with care for its oldest parts. It is used today as a parish church. Dalby Church shows how stone church building reached the Nordic countries through contacts with the German empire and how the church became part of the Danish crown’s organisation of the country.