Roskilde Cathedral

Around 960 the Danish king Harald Bluetooth made Roskilde his new capital and built a small wooden church dedicated to the Holy Trinity beside his royal farm. He died in 985 or 986 and was buried there, though no grave or remains have been found. After Earl Ulf was murdered at Christmas 1026, his widow Estrid, sister of Cnut the Great, demanded weregild, and the money paid for a stone church. Between 1060 and 1073 Bishop Wilhelm began a cathedral of travertine.

Absalon, bishop from 1157, set about enlarging it in brick, a material whose firing had reached Denmark from Italy in 1160. His successor Peder Sunesen turned the design towards French Gothic. The choir was finished in 1225, the main structure by 1280 and the west towers in 1405. It was the first Gothic cathedral built of brick in Scandinavia, and its design helped spread the style across northern Europe.

Margaret I died in 1412 and was first buried at Sorø, then moved to Roskilde the following year. Since the Reformation of 1536 nearly every Danish king and queen has been buried here. Christian IV ordered his own chapel in 1613 and gave the twin spires in 1633, and on 26 February 1658 the Treaty of Roskilde was signed in the cathedral. It was inscribed in 1995.