St. Jakobus

The 12th-century St Jakobus Church stands in the small village of Moldenit, part of Schaalby parish in Schleswig-Flensburg. Built of fieldstone in the Romanesque style, it is one of the oldest churches in Angeln. The building has a narrow rectangular nave and a slightly recessed square choir typical of early Angeliter churches. Inside, the choir was given a late-Gothic vault while the nave received a Baroque plaster ceiling in 1705. A wooden tower was added against the west wall in 1586 and rebuilt in its present form in 1772. An open porch in front of the south door dates from 1892. The church’s interior fittings include a 1689 pulpit with a two-part Baroque clock and a 1682 altarpiece showing the Crucifixion. The altarpiece was donated by Joachim Schmidt, founder of the Winning estate, whose name appears in a Baroque cartouche at the foot of the cross. A 17th-century brass candelabrum with two arms and three candle dishes stands on the altar mensa. The oldest piece is a plain Romanesque granite font, once supported by a millstone. The organ case, carved in 1746 by Johann Friedrich Hänel, originally stood in a castle chapel before being installed here in 1787. A local legend explains the small holes above the north door as marks left by a chain thrown from the nearby Devil’s Hill burial mound. The church belongs to the Brodersby-Kahleby-Moldenit parish alongside two other medieval churches. Inside, the plaster ceiling still bears the combined coat of arms of Joachim von Ahlefeldt and his wife Friederike von Kielmansegg. The organ case, with its carved musical allegories, remains a fine example of Rococo craftsmanship.