Sand-Covered Church

It was a brick church of considerable size, located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southwest of the town centre of Skagen, Denmark.

During the last half of the 18th century the church was partially buried by sand from nearby dunes; the congregation had to dig out the entrance each time a service was to be held.

[1][2] The church was demolished, leaving the tower with crow-stepped gable as the only part of the original structure still standing.

The church had a long vaulted nave, with exterior buttresses, and a tower with crow-stepped gable, added around 1475.

[7] On Great Prayer Day (Danish religious holiday celebrated on the fourth Friday after Easter) in 1775, the church door had to be dug free for the congregation to be able to attend the service, and for the following 20 years, the Skageners struggled to keep the church free from sand, without being allowed to close it down.

[1][13] Its tower has attracted attention from writers such as Hans Christian Andersen, who used the church as a setting in his "En Historie fra Klitterne".

The Sand-Covered Church is named after Saint Lawrence, in Danish Sct. Laurentii Kirke
The Sand-Covered Church was in medieval times the largest church in the region of Vendsyssel . Nowadays only the church tower still stands, rising above the sandy dunes.