Elaine Matthews

Ribe, Denmark

I want to be sure I make note of all the places John and I visit on this blog. We have horrendous memories, so you’re reading our travel log and observations, which serves as a digital reminder. Thanks for coming along!

– Elaine

Last Saturday, we set out for Ribe (roughly pronounced Reeb), Denmark’s oldest existing town about 30 minutes south of Esbjerg. Established in the eighth century, it thrived during medieval times as a trading post between Scandinavian countries and Western Europe.

Nowadays, the town is quite modern with a quaint shopping street and a historic square. The church in the square was closed for a choir practice. There are a lot of festivals that happen in Ribe, so I’m sure John and I will return.

Ribe’s shopping street.
Ribe Domkirke (Ribe Cathedral) was the first Christian church established in Denmark by a missionary monk from Hamburg.
Ribe Domkirke was first established in 860 as a wood church and has gone through many iterations.
St. Catharinæ’s Abbey and Monastery is another medieval church founded in 1228 by Dominican monks. This particular church was built in the 15th century and is the third church to be in the same spot.
In the 1520s, Danes wanted an end to the many tithes, fees, rents, forced work, and requests for food, clothing, and money by the Catholic Church. They ejected the Franciscan monks first, then the Dominican monks. During the Reformation, this became a Lutheran church and remains that today.
The priory cloister.

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