Maribo Cathedral

Maribo Cathedral was erected between 1413 and 1470 as the church of an abbey of the Order of St Bridget. Built of brick, it is almost 60m/200ft long and the central nave has stellar vaulting. Originally the church had two choirs, one for monks and one for nuns. The plan of the church is roughly similar to that of the church designed by St Bridget for the principal abbey of her order at Vadstena in Sweden; Maribo was the first daughter house of Vadstena Abbey. It contains a 15th C. triumphal Crucifix, a Renaissance painted pulpit, a Baroque altar carved by Henrik Werner about 1640, a painting on leather and an exhibition of ecclestiacal relics including the sponge which - according to legend - was handed to Christ on the Cross. Leonora Christina Ulfeldt, daughter of Christian IV and wife of Corfitz Ulfeldt, later governor of Copenhagen, was imprisoned for a long time and spent the last years of her life here in Maribo. She is buried in the cathedral; her grave bears the inscription "Herre, havde dib Ord icke wðrret min Trost, da hafde jeg forgaaet i min Elendighed" (Lord, without Thy words to comfort me I would have died of misery).