votive ship
Illustration — Votive ship in Nexø Church on the island of Bornholm, Denmark A votive ship, sometimes called a church ship, is a ship model displayed in a church. Votive ships are relatively common in churches in the Nordic countries Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, as well as on Åland and Faroe Islands, but are known also to exist in Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. The practice of displaying model ships in churches stems from the Middle Ages and appears to have been known throughout Christian Europe, in both Catholic and Lutheran countries.
Also recorded as ship model in church · church ship
votive ship

Jürgen Howaldt · Self-photographed · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
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- ship model · ex-voto · liturgical furniture · votive model
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Illustration — Votive ship in Nexø Church on the island of Bornholm, Denmark A votive ship, sometimes called a church ship, is a ship model displayed in a church. Votive ships are relatively common in churches in the Nordic countries Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, as well as on Åland and Faroe Islands, but are known also to exist in Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. The practice of displaying model ships in churches stems from the Middle Ages and appears to have been known throughout Christian Europe, in both Catholic and Lutheran countries.
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The oldest known remaining votive ship is a Spanish ship model from the 15th century. A model ship originally displayed in Stockholm Cathedral but today in the Stockholm Maritime Museum dating from circa 1590 is the oldest surviving example in the Nordic countries. Votive ships are quite common in France, in coastal towns (and in some inland ones as well) either as model ships (generally made by sailors after escaping a shipwreck) or as paintings (generally depicting some awkward situation) they are known under the Latin term of Ex-Voto (made after a vow). The church of Sainte Anne d'Auray in Brittany has the biggest French collection of marine ex-votos, but the practice even extends to the Mediterranean French shores, including Corsica.
Model of a ship in a church building
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Dieter Sell: Schwebende Kulturdenkmäler: Votivschiffe in den Küstenkirchen zeugen von Macht und Dank (landeskirche-hannovers.de, 8. August 2005)
- 2.https://web.archive.org/web/*/votivschiff.de.
- 3.Wolfgang Steusloff. Kirchen-Schiffsmodelle im Wandel.
- 4.Konrad Köstlin. Schiffsschenkungen in protestantischen Kirchen. Von ständischer Repräsentation zum Symbol lokaler Identität.
- 5.Wolfgang Steusloff. Kirchen-Schiffsmodelle im Wandel.
- 6.Wolfgang Steusloff. Kirchen-Schiffsmodelle im Wandel.
- 7.Konrad Köstlin. Schiffsschenkungen in protestantischen Kirchen. Von ständischer Repräsentation zum Symbol lokaler Identität.
- 8.Wolfgang Steusloff. Kirchen-Schiffsmodelle im Wandel.
- 9.Wolfgang Steusloff. Kirchen-Schiffsmodelle im Wandel.
- 10.Detlev Ellmers. Das Schiff als Zeichen in Mittelalter und früher Neuzeit. Bürgerliche Selbstdarstellung im Flußgebiet der Weser.
- 11.Detlev Ellmers. Das Schiff als Zeichen in Mittelalter und früher Neuzeit. Bürgerliche Selbstdarstellung im Flußgebiet der Weser.
- 12.Wolfgang Steusloff. Kirchen-Schiffsmodelle im Wandel.
- 13.Werner Jaeger. Eine Nofretete unter den Schiffsmodellen. Bericht über die Entdeckung eines bislang unbekannten Schiffsmodelles aus dem Jahre 1617.
- 14.Konrad Köstlin. Schiffsschenkungen in protestantischen Kirchen. Von ständischer Repräsentation zum Symbol lokaler Identität.
- 15.Wolfgang Steusloff. Kirchen-Schiffsmodelle im Wandel.
- 16.Konrad Köstlin. Schiffsschenkungen in protestantischen Kirchen. Von ständischer Repräsentation zum Symbol lokaler Identität.
- 17.Elizabeth Tingle. The Sea and Souls: Maritime Votive Practices in Counter-Reformation Brittany, 1500–1750.
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