Großsolt Church

The romanesque church in Großsolt stands beside the Treßsee in the Angeln countryside. Built in the late 12th century as a single-nave field-stone church with a square choir, it once faced the lake before the village shifted inland. A late-gothic vault was added to the choir and a small porch called the Waffenhaus placed at the south door. The present high stone tower dates only from 1920; before then a wooden belfry leaned against the nave.

Its furnishings span seven centuries. The granite font, carved by a local mason, shows Peter, Paul and the evangelist symbols on its bowl. A late-15th-century triumphal cross hangs in the chancel arch, and the 1614 Renaissance pulpit carries reliefs of the life of Christ in Latin. The lavish baroque altar with acanthus carving arrived around 1700, its 1920 altarpiece painted by H. Bruhn after Rubens. The 1719 votive ship “Urania” was donated by the Detleffsen seafaring family.

Inside, the north and west galleries hold a 1748 painted Bible of scenes from Genesis to Acts. Each panel is labelled in old German, from the Fall of Man to the Emmaus walk. The organ case dates from 1810, a gift of a farmer from Kollerup. Outside, the churchyard slopes down to the still waters of the Treßsee, where the first nave once stood.