Scenes from a yarn crawl

Today's main purpose was to visit as many Aarhus yarn stores as I possibly could. My total: 4 1/2. But I'll save that adventure for a Toxophily post sometime in the next week, and instead give you a glimpse of the sightseeing I did in between fiber-fondling.



I started at the Frue Kirke, the Church of Our Lady.




Underneath the church is a crypt church that was built in the 11th century -- the oldest preserved building in Denmark. It was forgotten after the Reformation and only rediscovered during a twentieth-century renovation project. I thought this picture without flash was the best representation of the place. The reproduction of the original Romanesque crucifix is just a bare outline, stern and mysterious.




These small arched windows under the side vaults let in the only light.




Near the end of my afternoon, I finally went into the Cathedral (St. Clemens Kirke or the Domkirke), which is right by my hotel. The number of frescoes that survived the Reformation is remarkable. Here's a detail from a three-level depiction of purgatory, the judgment, and Christ enthroned; check out those angels pulling souls away from such torments as being roasted on a spit!




I loved the intricate brass portals that were created in the 16th century.




A Baroque marble piece in an entrance chapel featured these rather alarming memento mori among the fat cherubs and fashionable depictions of the patron nobility.




My last stop was the Viking Museum that lies underneath a large bank building beside the cathedral. During construction, ninth century artifacts were uncovered, so this museum was built as a basement to house some of the relics. I liked the information displayed on the stairs down to the museum -- walking down equals walking back in time.




And to end this intermittently morbid slideshow on an appropriate note, the skeleton of a Viking in situ, as found on the floor of his pit house.