Short Description: A scary climb up the spiral external staircase of the church spire.
Book Title: A Journey To The Center Of The Earth
First Year Published: 1864
Author's Name: Jules Verne
Name of Waymarked Item: Church of Our Saviour
Location of Item: St. Annæ Street 29, Christianshavn, Copenhagen
More Information:
The church was completed in 1695 but at that time there were not enough funds for the building of a spire. King Frederick V funded the building of the spire which was completed in 1752.
Architect Lauritz de Thurah based his design on the Roman Catholic church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome. It has an external staircase that turns four times anticlockwise around the spire. The only difference is that on this church the staircase is made from a gilded brown timber frame rather than stone.
There are 250 steps to the top of the tower followed by a further 150 on the external staircase to the top of the spire. The steps are quite wide near the bottom of the tower, but get narrower the further up you go. Near the top of the tower the stairs change to a spiral staircase even before reaching the spire itself.
As you can imagine this could be a difficult climb for anyone with a fear of heights, especially as the staircase on the spire itself is very narrow. It is exactly this scenario that is used in the book.
Two of the characters climb to the top of the tower to try and cure their fear of heights. On the way down they encounter a large family climbing up and have to deal with the difficulty of how to pass them safely (or not). This web page of the church has an extract from the book and a picture of the scene. Note however that the illustration in the book shows the spiral as clockwise rather than anti-clockwise as it should be.
The spire was originally opened by King Frederick V when he climbed all the way to the top of the spire. As the tower and spire are open to the public it is possible recreate both the King’s journey and that of the characters from the book.
Times of opening
Monday-Saturday. 10-19:30
Sundays and public holidays. 10:30 to 19:30
The closing time for access to the tower is 19:15.
On Midsummer Day the spire stays open until 23:00
During heavy rain or wind tower closed temporarily for safety reasons.
Cost of admission in 2013
On 1 June - 15 September:
Adults: 40, - EUR
Groups (adults) / students / 65 +: 30, - EUR
Children (8-14 years): 10, - EUR
Children groups: 5, - EUR
Season ticket: 50, - EUR
The 2nd March - 31 May & 16 September - 15 December:
Adults: 35, - EUR
Groups (adults) / students / 65 +: 25, - EUR
Children (8-14 years): 5 - DK
Groups (children): 5, - EUR
Admission Price?: 35.00 (listed in local currency)
Link to more information about the book or waymarked item.: [Web Link]
|