From 1907 to 1910 the church was closed to all but a group of craftsmen and conservators. During that time, a thorough and extensive renovation of the interior of the church was carried out. It is no exaggeration to say that almost everything you see around you today would have looked different if this work had not been done.
The beautiful medieval statue you have in front of you here –The Blessed Virgin, Mary, mother of God with the child Jesus in her arms – you would not have seen at all. It was during the renovation that it was found, in need of much repair, hidden in a forgotten storage space. The statue of the Blessed Virgin was later placed here at this altar as a reminder of the time before the Reformation when our national church was Roman Catholic.
The one-and-a-half metre tall statue is shaped from an oak tree. Beyond that, there is not much we know for sure about this work. We believe it was carved in Lübeck, sometime in the second half of the 15th century; maybe even explicitly ordered for this particular church.
We do know that the statue was originally was beautifully painted. Her hair was gilded, her skin beautifully pink. She was dressed in a golden robe patterned with flowers in gold and red with a deep blue lining.
As you can see, the baby Jesus’s head and left arm are lost. We don’t know how this has happened, but the statue's face and the crown also have traces of deliberate damage. Probably at some point after the Reformation she was vandalised
Also, we do not know where in the church, the statue of the Blessed Virgin was placed at first. But we're glad that she, as mother of Jesus, is in this place. A role model for all of us – and a reminder of the ancient history of our church.