Vicelinkirche, Neoclassical church in Stadtmitte, Neumünster, Germany.
The Vicelinkirche is a hall church with yellow brick walls, built 1829–1834 to a design by Copenhagen's chief building director Christian Frederik Hansen. Its square west tower is half-embedded in the nave, which has a hipped roof; the tower's stepped upper storey ends in a dome on a cylindrical lantern. Tall rectangular windows on the side walls are topped by wider semi-circular windows, framed by shallow projections that rise into round-arched panels.
A wooden church on this site is attributed to Bishop Ansgar in the 9th century. In 1127 the monk Vicelinus founded an Augustinian canons' house here; the stone church built soon after gave the town its name, Novum monasterium. The canons moved to Bordesholm around 1330, and the parish church, later dedicated to Bartholomew, was demolished in 1811 after the tower collapsed. Christian Frederik Hansen designed the present church, built 1829–1834 and named after Vicelinus.
The name Vicelinkirche recalls the monk Vizelin, who founded an Augustinian monastery here in 1127; the town's Latin name Novum monasterium ("New Minster") comes from that foundation. The wooden baptismal font, of unknown maker, once stood in Copenhagen's Church of Our Lady and is said to have been used for Danish royal children. The silver baptismal bowl is dated 1763 and gilded inside.
The church stands in the Schwale loop at Kleinflecken, in the southeast of Neumünster's oldest settlement core. The main entrance is through the west tower; the tower hall leads into the nave, with the Thorvaldsen relief above the inner door. The yellow brick exterior is best seen from the opposite bank of the Schwale.
The baptismal font, now near the centre of the nave, came from Copenhagen's Church of Our Lady, which was destroyed by British rocket fire in 1807; Danish royal children are said to have been baptised in it. Its maker and date are unknown, and the silver bowl is gilded inside.
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