Fanefjord Church

Fanefjord stands alone on a rise above the water on western Mon, a plain whitewashed brick church of the thirteenth century, and its interior is the reason to find it: the vaults and walls are covered with wall paintings of about 1500 attributed to the Elmelunde Master, an anonymous workshop that decorated several churches on Mon in the same manner. The scheme runs across the whole ceiling, with biblical scenes, saints, the creation, the labours of the months, grotesques and trailing plant ornament in red, ochre and black on white plaster, drawn with a loose confident line. They were whitewashed over after the Reformation and uncovered in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A long neolithic passage grave, Grønsalen, lies in the field nearby.

History

A few hundred metres south of the church lies Grønsalen, a particularly long barrow, which local folklore calls the grave of Queen Fane and her husband King Grøn Jæger. The church's original nave, 7 metres high, dates from the second half of the 13th century, its cross vaults were added around 1300, the porch and tower were completed around 1500, and the choir was built around 1660. That so large a church was built around 1250 for a parish of some 300 people may be explained by the trade through the fjord with Hanseatic ports, whose merchants may have helped pay for it. The Klintholm Estate bought the church in 1825 and owned it for almost 100 years, and its frescos, from the 13th to the 16th centuries, make it the best-known sight on Møn (Wikipedia, Fanefjord Church).

What to look for

• Vaults painted end to end - the Elmelunde Master's scheme of about 1500.
• The labours of the months - agricultural scenes among the biblical ones.
• Grotesques and plant ornament - the loose decorative line across the ceiling.
• The neolithic passage grave - Grønsalen in the field nearby.

When to go

April to October, when the church is reliably open; winter access is limited. One hour. Bright days are much better because the church is lit by daylight and the paintings are high in the vaults.

Good to know

Opening hours are informal and the church can be locked, particularly outside summer. Bring or borrow binoculars, because the best paintings are on the vaults well above head height. There is no interpretation beyond a leaflet. Nothing else is nearby.

Nearby

Stege and Elmelunde church are east; Nyord and Mons Klint lie north-east.

Key facts