Visit Frederik’s Church, Copenhagen

Frederik’s Church in Copenhagen is a place that is hard to miss.

Whether you have sampled the delights of Nyhavn or have made your way to Amalienborg Palace, you eye will undoubtedly be caught by the imposing dome rising above the rooftops of central Copenhagen.

Ask one of the locals about it and you’ll find that it is a church which has a number of names. Frederiks Kirke is the literal translation of the English Frederik’s Church, but more often than not it will be referred to as Marmorkirken, meaning ‘The Marble Church’. In fact, the metro stop, which deposits you just in front of the building’s imposing facade, is named Marmorkirken.

Stepping close to the church shows you why it has this name, with rows of gleaming, highly decorated rococo marble architecture. This is the whole story though - read on to hear how the Marble Church may be a slightly misleading name for the building!

Let’s take a closer look at the church in this short article, find out the best days to visit and how you can catch a glimpse inside Scandinavia’s largest dome.

A short history of Frederik’s Church

The church was designed by Nicolai Eigtved in 1740 and was, along with the rest of Frederiksstaden, an entirely new district of Copenhagen, intended to commemorate the 300 years jubilee of the first coronation of a member of the House of Oldenburg.

It’s a landmark for miles around the centre of Copenhagen, but once you get up close to it, the scale becomes apparent. As I mentioned above, it’s the largest dome in Scandinavia with a span of 31m. There is more than a hint of the grand renaissance architecture of Italy which Eigtved was trying to emulate, most notably the fact that the dome sits upon 12 columns - identical to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Frederik’s Church, as viewed from the Danish royal palace of Amalienborg.

Tietgen was a little more realistic in his approach to building the marble church. He kept the original Norwegian marble walls from the previous century, and finished the rest in limestone from nearby Faxe Kalkbrud.

It was finally finished in 1894, around 145 years after the building work first began.

Today it hosts regular services, as well as concerts and guided tours.

Guided tower tours

You can join guided tours all year round, which take you to the top of the church, offering a stunning view of the rooftops of central Copenhagen.

Outside the summer period, the trips take place every Saturday and Sunday at 13, while in the summer period, 15 June to 31 August and in week 42, there are tower tours every day at. 13. A tour takes approx. 45 minutes.

Opening hours

Visits are open Monday-Thursday and Saturday at 10-17, and Friday and Sunday at 12-17. There is also a service every Sunday and public holidays at 10.30.

A costly project

It shouldn’t come as a suprise that it was a costly construction. Work began on the edifice in 1749, but the cost of bringing every block of marble from Bergen in Norway made the project slow and expensive from day one.

Seventeen years later, the king who ordered the church to be built, Frederik the 5th, passed away, and his successor Christian the 7th, was not interested in the mammoth project.

It was abandoned entirely in 1770 and incredibly, construction stopped completely for over 100 years.

The 19th century saw the industrial revolution sweep across the world, and one such industrialist, Carl Frederik Tietgen purchased the half-finished building in 1874, resuming building in 1877.