First published: 08/08/16.

Clyde 1.5

Moravian Church Settlements

Moravian Church Settlements (Inscribed)

Moravian Church Settlements by Clyde

I visited this WHS in July 2016. I drove to this small town from Stevns Klint and without noticing I had parked just in front of the main square and Moravian church. Visiting on a weekday meant that the town was less of a tourist museum when compared to the weekend. The town planning is intact and although there is a heritage trail marking around 27 sites to see, 25 of these sites are practically one next to the other on two parallel roads so it is very easy to visit. The main church facade is quite plain in line with the Moravian way of life. The rear of the church is covered in wood like other interesting dwellings nearby. I kept going round in circles trying to find this interesting feature (Els' photo) only to find out that on weekdays it is used as a kindergarten/school playground. There's even a metal goal post attached to it! The plain white interior is being refurbished at the moment and will not be accessible at least till the end of November this year. Perhaps this is why I preferred the quiet Tyrstrup Church. I wandered around the heritage trail and strangely enough the real highlight of my visit was the Moravian cemetery also known as God's Field. The cemetary is built in the shape of a cross and is lined with tall lime trees. What struck me most was that there were no family burial places. Women or community sisters are buried to the right and men or community brethren are buried to the left, exactly like the congregation is seated in the Moravian church. The majority of the graves are identical as a symbol that after death all are equal. The oldest graves are from the 18th century and are made of stone. Although some of the graves are damaged and the engravings are covered with moss or fading, a special effort is being done to restore them. The newer graves are made of marble which is a pity as I really like the symbol of equality. The majority of the sisters and the brethren had the name Christian in their first names, middle names or surnames, after the king Christian VII. After a short coffee break at the fabulous Xocolatl coffee shop for some gingerbread and honey cakes, I drove for a few kilometres to visit the last 2 sites near Tyrstrup: Christinero and the inscribed bole house. A bole house or bulladen is a typical Jutland timber building built with horizontal oak planks between vertical upright planks. the one in Tyrstrup was built in 1668 and it is the largest bullade in Denmark. Christinero is an enjoyable late 1700s park. It is named after Christina Friederica von Holstein, who called it "My thoughts". Her white wooden farm, Favrågård, lies at the heart of this park (around 2km from Christiansfeld). All in all I enjoyed my visit and although this site might fill in some gaps in the WH list, I don't think the site alone has OUV. Perhaps this WHS will be used in the future to extend the inscription to other Moravian settlements worldwide and become a transnational WHS which I think would be worth a try.

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