It was founded in the Viking Age as the first Christian church in Denmark by Ansgar, a missionary monk from Hamburg, under permission of the pagan King Horik I.

The cathedral has experienced several damaging events throughout its long history and has been restored, expanded and decorated repeatedly.

As it stands today, Ribe Cathedral is the best preserved Romanesque building in Denmark, but reflects a plethora of different architectural styles and artistic traditions.

Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Frisians, English and other cultures occasionally brought exchange goods here from all parts of northwestern Europe.

The landscape around Ribe is flat, wind-blown and sandy, without any particular natural harbour, but in former times, boats could enter the river from the sea and reach the town.

Louis the Pious put off Harald's request and offered him the Dukedom of Frisia as a consolation prize, if he would become Christian.

Harald returned to Denmark in 826 in an attempt to reclaim his former lands and brought the missionary monk Ansgar with him in order to continue the Christianization of the Danes.

Harald's quarrelsome nature soon asserted itself and he fled back to Frisia and Ansgar was forced to leave Denmark.

But the Danes in Hedeby and Ribe soon complained about the church bells, which they feared might scare away the land sprites (Danish: landvætter).

So in reaction to the increased success of Ansgar and his companions, Young King Horik II closed the church in Hedeby.

Following his death, the mission to the Danes collapsed, the missionaries moved on, and the church was burned down to eradicate any memory of the "foreign" religion.

King Erik's three-year reign, was a short pause in the unrelenting competition for the throne of Denmark.

Because it was not completely destroyed, Ribe Cathedral stands as Denmark's best preserved Romanesque building today.

The remains of the old church was repaired and extended with new constructions in large red bricks - a new building material for the time.

About the same time as work on restoring the cathedral was underway, the citizens of Ribe built a second wall around the town.

Ribe was without question Denmark's most important trade center of the time, and the wealth that flowed to the city and the cathedral, made such costly constructions possible.

King Christoffer died suddenly on 29 May 1259 after drinking poisoned communion wine which rumor said he received from Abbot Arnfast of Ryd Abbey.

Just before morning mass on Christmas Day 1283, the northwest tower collapsed into the church and unto the streets around the cathedral.

The Commoner's Tower was complete at 62 meters, capped by a copper "Rhenish helmet" including the narrow spire on the top in 1333.

After King Eric of Pomerania was deposed in 1439, his nephew, Prince Christoffer of Bavaria, was selected to become the regent of Denmark.

In 1560 the last of the Roman Catholic statues, artwork, altars, and decorations are removed and the medieval paintings were plastered over.

[6] In 1634, a violent storm surge on the night of 11–12 October flows into Ribe and the surrounding farm land.

This led to a public exhibition with the proposed artwork, involving both visitors and the citizens of Ribe to contribute their opinions.

Half of the feedback (from 10.000 visitors) was in favor of the project and the re-decorations was eventually accepted by the local parish council and initiated.

The whole incident proved to be a catalyst for a modernization of church decoration within Denmark and paved the way for artists including Mogens Jørgensen, Erik Heide, Per Kirkeby, Robert Jacobsen, Hein Heinsen, Maja Lise Engelhardt and Peter Brandes.

In the south transept is the chapel of Admiral Albert Skeel partially in sandstone and fine wood carvings.

Iver Munk, last Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Ribe, can literally be seen as his grave stone is a portrait.