Our Lady's Priory, Aarhus

Certainly by 1240 a Dominican priory was established just outside the walls of Aarhus, Jutland's largest town.

The earlier chapel had been constructed in about 1060 when Bishop Christian arrived to organize the Diocese of Aarhus.When Aarhus Cathedral was built, the Dominicans were given the use of the old church, to which they added a new choir and sacristy; by 1250 it had become the south range of the priory.

The premises stood vacant for a time until Christian III directed that the church should be administered separately from the priory, and ordered the rest of the buildings to be converted into a "common hospital for the sick and the poor" in 1541.

The buildings of the priory thus became a public hospital and a poor house, beginning a use as accommodation for the vulnerable and needy that continues into modern times.

In the years after World War II it was decided to restore the Vor Frue Kirke and the comprehensive work was completed in the 1950s.