I guess, there is no other place, where so many royal families’ members are buried. Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark is not only the first Gothic cathedral made of bricks but a tomb for 40 kings and queens of Denmark. 

We may suppose that earlier, at the place of the cathedral, two churches were built. The first one, constructed by Harold Bluetooth, was made of wood. 

But in the 11th century, it was replaced by one or two constructions of stone. To the year 1080, the church looked like a three-nave basilica, established by an episcope Sven Nordmand.

One more step was made by an episcope Absalon – in 1170, he started the building of a big bricked church in a Roman style. But later an episcope Peter Sunesen modernized it and added some Gothic elements. The church we can see was completely built in 1280, but the facade and decoration inside the church were changing every century. Its architecture – exquisite and majestic - influenced a lot to the Gothic style of other stoned buildings of Europe.

Roskilde Cathedral became a tomb in the 15th century. It consists of several chapels which were named according to the names of the buried monarchs: Christian I, Christian IV, Frederick V, Christian IX. Frederick IX wished to be buried outside the cathedral, so his tomb is placed around. Even a Dutch princess and Empress Maria Fedorovna was buried in the cathedral after her death in 1928, till her ash was not sent to Russia for burial next to her husband, Emperor Alexander III. 

The beauty and a special atmosphere attract a lot of tourists, desiring to immerse in its unique world: every year it is visited by 125 000 tourists, and since 1995, Roskilde Cathedral has been included in the UNESCO list. By the way, the cathedral continues to perform its functions.