Selde Church
From the outside, Selde Church appears as a traditional 15th-century village church, but inside, you'll discover a wealth of impressive decorative features.
The church boasts beautiful stained glass windows that bathe the space in colored light. Intricate wood carvings and paintings also adorn the walls, adding to the sacred and artistic atmosphere.
Selde Church is a roadside church, open during daytime hours Monday to Friday.
Today it stands as a cruciform church, with its oldest parts – the chancel and nave – built in Romanesque style using granite ashlar. In the 1500s, the northern transept was added, possibly using reused stones from the former “Lund Church.” Three different types of foundation stones can be seen on the north side. At the same time, the nave was extended and raised. In the 1600s, the southern transept was built as a burial chapel, likely for Jørgen Rosenkrantz of Kjeldgård.
The tower was constructed after 1709 to replace a freestanding brick tower. Until 1836, the tower room served as a burial chapel, and afterward became the church’s entrance.
During a major restoration in 1869, large iron windows were installed, and the interior – including the altar and pews – was renewed. Stones from the old granite altar were built into the southwest corner of the nave, and a flat stone with a relic compartment was placed in the south wall of the chancel. The baptismal font bears a runic inscription on its base, and in the tower entrance stands a smooth font bowl found in Kjeldgård’s garden – possibly also from “Lund Church.”
In the churchyard northeast of the church lies a well-kept grave marked with a white cross and the inscription: "Hier ruht in Gott Johannes Wieler f 26.1.1874 d 16.6.1945" Wieler died as a German refugee in Selde. His daughter, a war widow, owned nothing but a gold ring and some medals. When she asked the local carpenter to make a coffin, he refused. Dr. Anton Rask, a physician and former resistance leader, acted as interpreter and ensured the coffin was made. When no one wanted to be buried next to a German, Rask simply said: "I will!" He was buried beside Wieler in 1966 – a powerful gesture of forgiveness and humanity.