Carmelite Priory, Helsingør

It was one of three religious houses founded in Helsingør by King Erik VII as it grew from a small fishing village to a trading port on Øresund, the strait which separates Zealand from Skåne (now in southern Sweden), an important fishing ground and busy shipping corridor between the North Sea and the Baltic.

Erik VII, the heir of Margaret I, needed funds and his new toll on shipping was a source of steady income.

The Carmelites were a mendicant order (tiggermunk) which means that at least in the beginning they depended on the generosity of local residents for their sustenance.

King Erik invited them into Denmark and established the priory of Our Lady in Helsingør to ensure that they remained.

The three main buildings were built around a central garden and cloister, with the church of St. Mary forming the fourth side to the south.

The most influential Carmelite from the priory in Helsingør was Poul Helgesen, who was a university lecturer and student of Erasmus.

The first intention after the dissolution of the priory was to demolish the church, but it found use as a warehouse and as stabling for horses, which preserved it until 1577, when it was made available to the foreign community residing in Helsingør, mostly Germans from the cities of the Hanseatic League.