As I have mentioned earlier in my Berlin to Copenhagen cycle story that from Stubbekobing to Stege was the maddest day in the entire cycling trip! I wanted to cycle 70-80 km that day but managed a very hard 25 km. It was too windy! Later when I checked the weather, I figured the winds had been 45km/hr that day. This windy meant that if I put my cycle on the stand it will topple, if I am cycling at the side of the road I get pushed into the middle of the road, when going downhill I need to peddle, peddle hard!

At all times the wind was pushing at me from every direction. There are no glass windows like in a car or a strong helmet with a screen in a motorbike. It is just me and my cycle. #Phew that was one hard day but also awesome –  I had never experienced nature in all its magnanimity. 🙂

One respite I got that day was in the Fanefjord Church.

From Stubbekobing to Fanefjord Church

I don’t know how many hours I took to get to the church…probably half the day…. but overcoming a lot of thoughts which said let’s just take the shortest route to the next campsite and just skip these places… I pushed on.

No wind behind this door!

I found that in terms of the architecture it is quite similar to the other churches in that region. I think it is Gothic style, but I am not sure.

This image clearly needs some lights! 🙂

It is the biggest church in the area and built way back in 1250 AD. The beauty of the church is in the ancient frescoes inside it. These were painted by a Danish painter called Elmelunde Master who has painted other such churches too. Apparently he had painted the lower walls too but today the frescoes can be seen only near the ceiling and upper walls. These frescoes have been ‘restored’ so the original paintings may have had a different quality.

Beautiful Style and Colors

If you are like me and are wondering what the difference between a mural and fresco is, well someone else asked that Question on Quora. 🙂 A fresco is a really old form of painting where it becomes part of the wall paint, as opposed to a mural which is done on top of the wall paint.

These frescoes have a clear and distinctive style. All the paintings were biblical events & stories.

There were explanations of the events these paintings depicted in laminated sheets kept nearby.

The old Church walls felt really concrete and solid against the wind storm outside. In fact within the church you could hardly hear the wind unless someone opened the outside door to enter or exit.

What I also found surprising was that there were a few visitors who had come to see the church. I don’t know if they were people who were staying nearby or maybe doing a car tour. Driving a car in the wind wouldn’t be too difficult I guess.

Garden around the church

Cemetary in the garden, typical of most churches…

So that was Fanefjord Church with its frescoes (not murals) 🙂