My Travel and History Blog, Focussing mostly on Roman and Mediaeval Times
10 Aug 2025
Spring Greens and Tulips – The Egeskov Castle Gardens
An overcast spring day in early May may not be the perfect time to visit a garden in cold and windy Denmark, but I nevertheless got a good amount of photos of fresh spring greens and lovely flowers, mostly tulips and rhododendron, when I visited Egeskov Castle and the large park. A lot of flowers like roses, dahlias, fuchsias and others, will only bloom later in summer. But there’s one advantage to visiting rather early in the year – less tourists who cluster around the flowerbeds
Spring highlight: The Tulip garden
I wrote a short version of the history of Egeskov Castle included in this blog post Egeskov Castle as we – mostly – can see today, was built in 1554 by the Danish nobleman Frands Mikkelsen Brockenhuus (1518-1569), military leader, diplomat, and member of the Royal Council, though an older building on the grounds is mentioned in 1405. Brockenhuus bought adjacent land and added the first park around the castle.
View from the English Garden to the castle
In 1656, Privy Councillor Otte Krag purchased Egeskov; his grandson Niels Krag the Younger (1699-1740) expandend on the formal gardens with their terraces, alleys, and geometrically shaped hedges. He also built the old labyrinth (which is now closed to the public because the roots of the old beech hedges have become too sensitive for a bunch of people trodding on the ground every day – only the gardening staff has access to the place now). Niels Krag also built the dam connecting the castle to the land (replacing the old drawbridge).
Formal hedges in the old park
Niels Krag died rather young, leaving behind a widow, Sophie, with no surviving children (unfortunately, I could not find any information about her). She sold the estate to the Bille-Brahe family in 1784. Their descendant Jessie married Julius Ahlefeldt-Laurvid (1875); the counts Ahlefeldt Laurvid-Bille still own the castle and park.
The Renaissance Garden
Jessie and Julius, together with the Danish landscape gardener H. A. Flindt, created the English Garden with its meadows, tree-and-hedges arrangements, and free standing trees, among them yews, plane trees, cypresses and others. The lawns are a popular picnic spot in summer. They also modernised many rooms in the castle.
The English Garden
The next couple to have an incfluence on the gardens were their grandson Gregers and his wife Nonni. They opened the gardens to the public in 1960 after major renovations. It was foremost Countess Nonni who felt responsible for the gardens, starting a tradition that is continued by the current countess (see below). Nonni brought in a French garden architect and – among others – re-designed the Renaissance garden at the castle.
Solitary tree in the English Garden
Their son Claus opened the castle itself to visitors. He decided to transform the part of the estate that was still used for agriculture into more gardens and tourist attractions – like the veteran and vintage car museums located in former barns – because the size of the estate no longer made farming with modern machines worthwile, but he wanted to keep the farm workers in employment.
View from the castle to the old farmhouse
Once, the treasure of a farmer had been the manure pile, usually located in the yard between the wings of the farm buildings (closer to the stables than the main house, but I suspect it still was the wrong sort of ‘fragrant’). The manure pile had vanished long ago – the house is used as estate office – but the Fragrance Garden was established only in 2002. Its layout with the woven wicker fences retains the traditional look of farm gardens (which were ususally located outside the farm yard, behind the main house), but the plants have been chosen primarily for their scents.
Fragrance Garden in the yard of the old farmhouse
The old farm buildings look much like the ones I’ve seen in the Funen Museum (photos in the link above).
Some of the flowerbeds hold scented geraniums, but also herbs for use in the kitchens (there is a restaurant on the grounds). Egeskov Gardens have 180-200 different herbs – though I suppose that includes the ones in the Herb Garden we will later visit on our virtual tour – besides the ones in this place. There is also blackthorn and bog myrte that are used as ingredients in a local schnapps.
One of the alleys in the park
The present owners of Egeskov Castle are Count Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille and his wife, Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (no, I didn’t make those names up; some noble families just keep collecting them). Count Michael and Princess Alexandra take a keen interest in the gardens, and especially Alexandra contributed to a number of new or enhanced features during the last years.
The lake
Head gardener in Egeskov since 1995 is Peter Bonde Poulsen. He and his team received the European Garden Award in 2012. Poulsen inherited his green thumbs from his father, who had been head gardener in Fredensborg Castle – he said he basically grew up in a large park.
Some of the hedges
The hedges are one of Egeskov’s signature features. They frame many of the various gardens in the park, overall stretching over 7 km, and are up to 8 metres high. Some are really old, dating to 1730, the time of the first labyrinth (the one that is now closed). They are mostly beech, privet, yew and other plants that grow into hedges.
Rhododendrons near the park entrance
After learning a bit about the history of the Egeskov Gardens, let’s have a closer look at more of their features not yet visited during the history lesson. Join me on a little virtual tour.
Rhododrendrons can be found in several spots in the park – including a special Rhododendron Garden (see below) – and many of those are in bloom in early May. Like this lovely riot of flowers near the entrance.
The Garden of Life
Some of the newer gardens follow philosophical concepts in the choice of plants, their colours, fragrances, times of the year when they are in flower etc. The Garden of Life, developed in 2015, is one of those. It stands for the passage of life and the rhythm of the seasons. I could detect some spring flowers like pale blue hyacinths, gold columbine and peonies, but else, it was mostly shades of green and reddish perennials that form a base for the flowers to come in summer.
Garden of Life, detail
The structure of the garden is formal, an outer circle, a middle circle divided into 8 'cake pieces' with wells in the centre of each of the sections, and an inner circle with a sun dial in its centre. The plants in that inner circle follow the sunlight during the day, from bright yellow to darker reds.
The Garden of Life replaces a yew labyrith developed by Piet Hein (the head gardener at the time of Count Claus in the 1970ies) which had to be taken down due to a yew disease.
The Rose garden
I next went to the castle – the main reason I visited Egeskov – and the gardens on the islet. One of those is the Rose Garden, established in 2004, which must look stunning in summer, with more than 100 different types of roses blooming. Most of those are English and local Danish rose variants. The design is based on a Maltese cross, the flower beds bordered by boxwood hedges. In early May, those hedges were the most visible part of the design.
Arched walkway in the Herb Garden
Back on the mainland, the next stop was the Herb Garden. It not only provides the castle with herbs, vegetables, and flowers for decoration; it is also designed as a beautiful place to spend recreational time in, with raised flowerbeds, arched walkways, pavillions, and a pond with goldfish. The design – albeit set up in the 1970ies – follows the old 17th century Renaissances kitchen gardens.
The plants for the herb garden are grown in Egeskov’s own greenhouses (many of the plants had not been put outside yet), and grown organically, without the use of pesticides.
The Dahlia Garden with its spring tulip planting
Framed by high hedges, the Dahlia Garden lies hidden and sheltered. But when I entered through the opening in the hedge, I was surprised to find an amazing array of tulips in every colour, and all in full bloom for a change. The dahlias were still snug in the warm greenhouses.
Violet tulips
There are 70 different variants of tulips, 10,000 plants overall. Since the fruit trees in this garden department are also in bloom, it is the prettiest spot in the Egeskov gardens in spring. Here’s some of the photos I took.
Orange-violet tulips
The garden was originally a fruit garden, protected by the high hedges which create a specific microclimate. The temperature is always a bit warmer – +2-3°C – than the more open park, thus dahlias thrive there. There are 140 variants, including giant dahlias with flowers of 30cm in diametre; they’re often called 'dinnerplate dahlias'. The dahlia tubers are dug up every autumn and stored in the greenhouse, then replanted at the end of May. The tulip bulbs are then taken out and given to owners of an annual card if they're interested in acquiring some pretty tulips.
Flamingo coloured tulips
Another summer garden, adjacent to the Dahlia Garden, is the Fuchsia Garden (minus the spring tulips, so there are no photos of that one). Egeskov has one of Europe’s largest collection of fuchsia with 800 different variants. Some of the plants are 50 or even 75 years old. Since fuchsia don’t tolerate frost, they – like the dahlias – have to be dug out in autumn, moved to the controlled conditions in the greenhouse, and replanted when there is no more danger of night frosts.
A pretty pink one
There are more gardens in the estate not pretty enough in early May to warrant photos. One of those is the Hop Garden. Hop gardens already were part of medieval herb and vegetable gardens, since beer was often safer to drink than water, and was locally brewed in monasteries (which always had a herb garden), on estates of the nobility, in towns and villages. Thus a hop garden has a long tradition in Egeskov.
White and violet tulips
The White Garden follows an old Renaissance pattern with symmetrical, boxwood framed flowerbeds, albeit dating to 2020. It is designed a midsummer garden with white and cream coloured flowers – another garden waiting for summer.
A hazel arch decorating a way in the park
A garden I admit to have missed since I didn’t follow the official route, but just went around in search for pretty motives, is the Perennial Garden hiding in a corner. The first perennial garden dates to the time of Countess Nonni (1967), but was dismantled in the 1980ies. Count Michael and Peter Bonde Poulsen restored the garden to the original plans in 1996.
Rhododendron Garden
On my way back to the entrance, I went through the Rhododendron Garden. It is one of the newest additions to Egeskov, designed by Princess Alexandra. The ground had been a woodland with shrubs and trees, some of which remain. It is a quiet and mostly shady corner with bright, colourful variants of rhododendron and azaleas blooming between the trees.
A red variant of azalea
The rhododendron and azaleas are interspersed with grasses, like this bright green Japanese mountain grass, presented in a rondell of local fieldstone.
Fieldstone wall rondell with Japanese grasses
Another quiet and shady place was the Water Garden. I liked the reflections of trees and water; they made for some nice photo motives. The water flows from the moat around the castle over a little waterfall and a canal to the river Hågerup Å. The Water Garden, also planted with rhododendrons and azaleas that prefer acidic soil, is another design by Princess Alexandra.
The Water Garden
In summer, dragonflies can be found in the water garden. Midges, too, I suspect, but the website doesn't mention those. *grin* But there are eels living in the water.
The red bridge across the pond was inspired by Monet's famous paintings of the bridge of Giverny.
Water Garden, the red bridge
So, that’s the photographic result of spending several hours in the Egeskov Gardens on a spring afternoon. Too bad it is a bit far from my hometown, or there would be a good reason to return in summer, tourists nonewithstanding. The roses, dahlias and fuchsias, among others, must look spectacular.
Water Garden, reflections
The information about the history of the castle and the various gardens was mostly obtained from the website of Egeskov Castle: Garden Guide.
Golden tulips
And because I got so many photos of those, here's another pretty tulip variant.
¶ August 10, 2025 0 comments
An overcast spring day in early May may not be the perfect time to visit a garden in cold and windy Denmark, but I nevertheless got a good amount of photos of fresh spring greens and lovely flowers, mostly tulips and rhododendron, when I visited Egeskov Castle and the large park. A lot of flowers like roses, dahlias, fuchsias and others, will only bloom later in summer. But there’s one advantage to visiting rather early in the year – less tourists who cluster around the flowerbeds
I wrote a short version of the history of Egeskov Castle included in this blog post Egeskov Castle as we – mostly – can see today, was built in 1554 by the Danish nobleman Frands Mikkelsen Brockenhuus (1518-1569), military leader, diplomat, and member of the Royal Council, though an older building on the grounds is mentioned in 1405. Brockenhuus bought adjacent land and added the first park around the castle.
In 1656, Privy Councillor Otte Krag purchased Egeskov; his grandson Niels Krag the Younger (1699-1740) expandend on the formal gardens with their terraces, alleys, and geometrically shaped hedges. He also built the old labyrinth (which is now closed to the public because the roots of the old beech hedges have become too sensitive for a bunch of people trodding on the ground every day – only the gardening staff has access to the place now). Niels Krag also built the dam connecting the castle to the land (replacing the old drawbridge).
Niels Krag died rather young, leaving behind a widow, Sophie, with no surviving children (unfortunately, I could not find any information about her). She sold the estate to the Bille-Brahe family in 1784. Their descendant Jessie married Julius Ahlefeldt-Laurvid (1875); the counts Ahlefeldt Laurvid-Bille still own the castle and park.
Jessie and Julius, together with the Danish landscape gardener H. A. Flindt, created the English Garden with its meadows, tree-and-hedges arrangements, and free standing trees, among them yews, plane trees, cypresses and others. The lawns are a popular picnic spot in summer. They also modernised many rooms in the castle.
The next couple to have an incfluence on the gardens were their grandson Gregers and his wife Nonni. They opened the gardens to the public in 1960 after major renovations. It was foremost Countess Nonni who felt responsible for the gardens, starting a tradition that is continued by the current countess (see below). Nonni brought in a French garden architect and – among others – re-designed the Renaissance garden at the castle.
Their son Claus opened the castle itself to visitors. He decided to transform the part of the estate that was still used for agriculture into more gardens and tourist attractions – like the veteran and vintage car museums located in former barns – because the size of the estate no longer made farming with modern machines worthwile, but he wanted to keep the farm workers in employment.
Once, the treasure of a farmer had been the manure pile, usually located in the yard between the wings of the farm buildings (closer to the stables than the main house, but I suspect it still was the wrong sort of ‘fragrant’). The manure pile had vanished long ago – the house is used as estate office – but the Fragrance Garden was established only in 2002. Its layout with the woven wicker fences retains the traditional look of farm gardens (which were ususally located outside the farm yard, behind the main house), but the plants have been chosen primarily for their scents.
The old farm buildings look much like the ones I’ve seen in the Funen Museum (photos in the link above).
Some of the flowerbeds hold scented geraniums, but also herbs for use in the kitchens (there is a restaurant on the grounds). Egeskov Gardens have 180-200 different herbs – though I suppose that includes the ones in the Herb Garden we will later visit on our virtual tour – besides the ones in this place. There is also blackthorn and bog myrte that are used as ingredients in a local schnapps.
The present owners of Egeskov Castle are Count Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille and his wife, Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (no, I didn’t make those names up; some noble families just keep collecting them). Count Michael and Princess Alexandra take a keen interest in the gardens, and especially Alexandra contributed to a number of new or enhanced features during the last years.
Head gardener in Egeskov since 1995 is Peter Bonde Poulsen. He and his team received the European Garden Award in 2012. Poulsen inherited his green thumbs from his father, who had been head gardener in Fredensborg Castle – he said he basically grew up in a large park.
The hedges are one of Egeskov’s signature features. They frame many of the various gardens in the park, overall stretching over 7 km, and are up to 8 metres high. Some are really old, dating to 1730, the time of the first labyrinth (the one that is now closed). They are mostly beech, privet, yew and other plants that grow into hedges.
After learning a bit about the history of the Egeskov Gardens, let’s have a closer look at more of their features not yet visited during the history lesson. Join me on a little virtual tour.
Rhododrendrons can be found in several spots in the park – including a special Rhododendron Garden (see below) – and many of those are in bloom in early May. Like this lovely riot of flowers near the entrance.
Some of the newer gardens follow philosophical concepts in the choice of plants, their colours, fragrances, times of the year when they are in flower etc. The Garden of Life, developed in 2015, is one of those. It stands for the passage of life and the rhythm of the seasons. I could detect some spring flowers like pale blue hyacinths, gold columbine and peonies, but else, it was mostly shades of green and reddish perennials that form a base for the flowers to come in summer.
The structure of the garden is formal, an outer circle, a middle circle divided into 8 'cake pieces' with wells in the centre of each of the sections, and an inner circle with a sun dial in its centre. The plants in that inner circle follow the sunlight during the day, from bright yellow to darker reds.
The Garden of Life replaces a yew labyrith developed by Piet Hein (the head gardener at the time of Count Claus in the 1970ies) which had to be taken down due to a yew disease.
I next went to the castle – the main reason I visited Egeskov – and the gardens on the islet. One of those is the Rose Garden, established in 2004, which must look stunning in summer, with more than 100 different types of roses blooming. Most of those are English and local Danish rose variants. The design is based on a Maltese cross, the flower beds bordered by boxwood hedges. In early May, those hedges were the most visible part of the design.
Back on the mainland, the next stop was the Herb Garden. It not only provides the castle with herbs, vegetables, and flowers for decoration; it is also designed as a beautiful place to spend recreational time in, with raised flowerbeds, arched walkways, pavillions, and a pond with goldfish. The design – albeit set up in the 1970ies – follows the old 17th century Renaissances kitchen gardens.
The plants for the herb garden are grown in Egeskov’s own greenhouses (many of the plants had not been put outside yet), and grown organically, without the use of pesticides.
Framed by high hedges, the Dahlia Garden lies hidden and sheltered. But when I entered through the opening in the hedge, I was surprised to find an amazing array of tulips in every colour, and all in full bloom for a change. The dahlias were still snug in the warm greenhouses.
There are 70 different variants of tulips, 10,000 plants overall. Since the fruit trees in this garden department are also in bloom, it is the prettiest spot in the Egeskov gardens in spring. Here’s some of the photos I took.
The garden was originally a fruit garden, protected by the high hedges which create a specific microclimate. The temperature is always a bit warmer – +2-3°C – than the more open park, thus dahlias thrive there. There are 140 variants, including giant dahlias with flowers of 30cm in diametre; they’re often called 'dinnerplate dahlias'. The dahlia tubers are dug up every autumn and stored in the greenhouse, then replanted at the end of May. The tulip bulbs are then taken out and given to owners of an annual card if they're interested in acquiring some pretty tulips.
Another summer garden, adjacent to the Dahlia Garden, is the Fuchsia Garden (minus the spring tulips, so there are no photos of that one). Egeskov has one of Europe’s largest collection of fuchsia with 800 different variants. Some of the plants are 50 or even 75 years old. Since fuchsia don’t tolerate frost, they – like the dahlias – have to be dug out in autumn, moved to the controlled conditions in the greenhouse, and replanted when there is no more danger of night frosts.
There are more gardens in the estate not pretty enough in early May to warrant photos. One of those is the Hop Garden. Hop gardens already were part of medieval herb and vegetable gardens, since beer was often safer to drink than water, and was locally brewed in monasteries (which always had a herb garden), on estates of the nobility, in towns and villages. Thus a hop garden has a long tradition in Egeskov.
The White Garden follows an old Renaissance pattern with symmetrical, boxwood framed flowerbeds, albeit dating to 2020. It is designed a midsummer garden with white and cream coloured flowers – another garden waiting for summer.
A garden I admit to have missed since I didn’t follow the official route, but just went around in search for pretty motives, is the Perennial Garden hiding in a corner. The first perennial garden dates to the time of Countess Nonni (1967), but was dismantled in the 1980ies. Count Michael and Peter Bonde Poulsen restored the garden to the original plans in 1996.
On my way back to the entrance, I went through the Rhododendron Garden. It is one of the newest additions to Egeskov, designed by Princess Alexandra. The ground had been a woodland with shrubs and trees, some of which remain. It is a quiet and mostly shady corner with bright, colourful variants of rhododendron and azaleas blooming between the trees.
The rhododendron and azaleas are interspersed with grasses, like this bright green Japanese mountain grass, presented in a rondell of local fieldstone.
Another quiet and shady place was the Water Garden. I liked the reflections of trees and water; they made for some nice photo motives. The water flows from the moat around the castle over a little waterfall and a canal to the river Hågerup Å. The Water Garden, also planted with rhododendrons and azaleas that prefer acidic soil, is another design by Princess Alexandra.
In summer, dragonflies can be found in the water garden. Midges, too, I suspect, but the website doesn't mention those. *grin* But there are eels living in the water.
The red bridge across the pond was inspired by Monet's famous paintings of the bridge of Giverny.
So, that’s the photographic result of spending several hours in the Egeskov Gardens on a spring afternoon. Too bad it is a bit far from my hometown, or there would be a good reason to return in summer, tourists nonewithstanding. The roses, dahlias and fuchsias, among others, must look spectacular.
The information about the history of the castle and the various gardens was mostly obtained from the website of Egeskov Castle: Garden Guide.
And because I got so many photos of those, here's another pretty tulip variant.
¶ August 10, 2025 0 comments
2 Jun 2025
Spring Tour 2025 – Denmark, Part 2: Odense, Æroskøbing, and More Vikings
Here is the second part of my Back with Booty posts from Denmark (the first can be found here). 15 days won’t cover the country – even leaving out Copenhagen and surroundings which I visited years ago – but proved sufficient to see quite a few interesting places.
Odense, lane in the old town
Odense is another town whose origins go back way into the past. The first time the name appears is a charte in which the German Emperor Otto III granted rights (unspecified; have to research that for future posts) to Odense in 988, but archaeological finds go beyond that. Odense had been a Vking settlement – one of Harald Bluetooth’s ring fortresses was buit here – though that past is mostly hidden under the present town.
Odense, Blackfriar’s Square
Odense thrived in the Middle Ages, churches and monasteries were built, as well as handsome houses by merchants and major craftsmen. A large fire in 1247 (during the conflicts of one of the dysfunctional royal families) proved no major setback, albeit several damaged churches were rebuilt in a more 'modern' Gothic style. Prosperity continued after the Reformation – many of the fine houses date to the 16th and mid-17th century, but then an increase in taxes (result of the lost Dano-Swedish War 1657/58) led to a period of stagnation.
Street in Odense
In the late 18th century, a canal was built from Odense harbour to the fjord at the Baltic Sea to faciliate the passage of larger ships, and since the 1840ies, industrialisation brought new prosperity to the city.
But not everyone participated in that development; there were still many poor people (living, like in the towns I mentioned in the first post, in those now so pretty little houses). The parents of Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), the famous Danish writer, were of those poor. Andersen could only attend high school and university thanks to grants.
Odense, gardens of the new Hans Christian Andersen Museum
Odense is proud of its famous citizen and has built a new museum – Andersen’s birth house has been one for a long time – a modern site, designed by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, that opened in 2021. I have not visited it since it is more a virtual and interactive presentation of Andersen’s fairy tales, but the gardens with the rotunds are free for everyone. The main museum is underground.
Funen Village Museum
One of the highlights (besides the Viking Village near Ribe and the Vindelev treasure, see below) was the open air musem Den Fynske Landsby (the Funen Village) near Odense, which reminded me of a similar one in Molfsee near Kiel in Germany I mentioned at the end of this post. It was interesting to compare the styles of the houses and farms.
Funen Village, the inn
The Funen Village opened in 1946, but its establishment began in 1944 during the German occupation in WW2. Many old houses and farm buildings – most of them half timbered and with thatched roofs – from the 18th and 19th century had fallen into disuse and were replaced by modern stone buildings, which was felt to be a shame, because the past vanished. So the idea was born to dismantle such buildings and reassemble them in one place.
Funen Village, interior of a house
The village presents 25 buildings, farmsteads, crofter houses, a parsonage, a school, a watermill, a windmill, an inn (fully functional, though the food is modern, no gritty flour with chaff) and more. The oldest building dates to 1692, the youngest is from 1893. Besides the houses, there are also gardens, stables and pasture with livestock, and arable fields. In all, the village looks like something Hans Christian Andersen would have seen in his life, and it was a really nice place to explore on a sunny day.
Funen Village, a landau, with the parsonage in the background
Of course I wouldn’t miss one of Denmark’s most famous historical sites: The rune stones and burial mounds at Jelling. The older stone reads: "King Gorm made these monuments in memory of Thyra / his wife, Denmark’s bót." The meaning of bót is discussed, it can mean "Denmark’s adorment" but also "Denmark’s salvation". There are no contemporary sources outside the rune stones, but later sources present Thyra as a politically active queen who supported her husband.
The older Jelling stone, front side
The second stone was erected by their son Harald Bluethooth in honour of his parents, and to mark the Christianization of the Danes he had undertaken. Besides the text, there are a depiction of Christus and animal ornaments.
Gorm the Old (*~ 900 – † 958 or maybe 963) was a Danish king – whether he ruled all of Denmark is dubious, more likely he ruled over Jutland – with a semi-legendary ancestry. Not much is known about him except his marriage to Thyra and being the father of Harald Bluetooth and perhaps other children as well. About Thyra, even less is known.
Jelling, the church and one of the burial mounds
Gorm’s son Harald Bluetooth is connected with the Viking Treasure of Hiddensee, and more shinies can now be seen in Jelling. I was lucky, since the exhibition of the Vindelev Treasure that has been discovered a few miles outside Jelling in 2020, had just opened two days before I visited the the museum.
Jelling, a piece of the Vindelev Treasure
The Vindelev Treasure is older than the finds of Hiddensee; the pieces date to the 5th/6th centuries AD and were deposited in a bog in the 6th century, during the Migration Period. It is assumed that the treasure was laid down as a sacrifice (which means that I’ll have to go back to the comment section of the Hiddensee post where I discussed the problem of safekeeping/sacrifice).
If someone thinks that the guy on the medaillon looks Roman – yes, he does; it’s Constantine the Great. Among the finds were not only 'Nordic' gold bracteates, but also Roman coins and medaillons. Trade connections and maybe even personal meetings went quite far at that time.
The Ladby ship burial
Another Viking site not far from Odense is the Ladby Ship. It is the only Danish ship burial (Norway got several), and the Danes were pretty excited when it was discovered in 1935. The conditions in the mound did not preserve wood very well, so most of what can be seen are impressions of the ship’s planks in the earth. Iron, on the other hand, preserves well, thus lots of nails and rivets have been found (in other sites, sometimes the timber is better preseverd and small iron objects rusted away). Most bones of the buried chief are missing, but those of several horses and dogs have been found, together with pieces to their tack.
Ladby is the only ship burial that has been conservated on site by encasing the ship in glass in an oblong room, and recreating the mound over it. The dim lights make it truly a burial.
Kerteminde, another pretty Danish lane
When traveling to somewhat remote places by public transport, I usually have to aim for a nearby town with a bus/train connection and then catch a local bus, or walk a few miles, ask for a ride, or take a taxi. Though that way I often had some time to explore the towns
Kerteminde is one of those cute little towns with cute little houses. And a coffe shop with yummy cakes. *grin* Settlement in the area goes back to the 11th century, but rights of town were granted Kerteminde only in 1413. Like most other historical places, the town lies directly at the Baltic Sea coast.
The double houses of Egeskov Castle
Egeskov Castle is one of the main tourist attractions on Funen. It is a handsome Late Gothic building with a spacious park, a vintage car museum and a large children’s playground. I was warned not to go there on a weekend, but under the week in pre-holiday season it wasn’t too crowded.
Egeskov Castle, the great house
Egeskov was built by the Danish nobleman Frands Mikkelsen Brockenhuus (1518-1569), military leader, diplomat, and member of the Royal Council, in 1554, though an older building on the grounds is mentioned in 1405. Since there had been a civil war just a few years prior (the Count’s War 1534-36), Brockenhuus made sure the castle was well fortified. He would die in another conflict, the Nordic Seven Years War (1563-1570), one of the many sub-conflicts in the Nordic Wars over the dominance in the Baltic Sea that lasted from 1554 to 1721.
Egeskov Park, the tulip garden
Brockenhuus bought a lot of adjacent land and added the first park. The castle itself was erected in the lake, resting on oaken pillars (it is said he used up a forest of trees, thus the name Egeskov – oak forest). Access originally was by a drawbridge.
The estate came to the Bille-Brahe family in 1784 and was inherited by the counts Ahlefeldt Laurvid-Bille who still own the castle and park.
Svendborg, the harbour
Svendborg is another town with a number of nice old houses, but I admit, I didn’t take so many photos this time. I got enough colourful little houses already. And since those houses are lived in, you sometimes get cars parking in front, or the ground floor taken up by stores and boutiques; Svendborg is a shopping town and got a main street full of those.
Ærøskøbing, pretty houses
The old character is better preserved in Ærøskøbing on the island of Ærø. One of the reasons is that its importance never went beyond the local trade and crafts, other than large towns like Aarhus or Odense. So the town was never 'modernised' the way those larger cities have been. Today, the townscape is deliberately kept since Ærøskøbing has become a tourist destination; tourism providing its major income.
Ærøskøbing, more pretty houses
The town dates to 1250, but a fire in 1629 destroyed most of it. The town recovered, though, and the old houses were rebuilt, and newer, somewhat larger ones added that show stylistic influences from Funen and northern Germany. Today, the old houses – the oldest dating to 1645 – are lovingly kept. The paint needs to be refurbished regularly; one lady was painstakingly recolouring a black stripe when I walked through the lanes.
The Baltic Sea near Svendborg
The last afternoon in Denmark ended with an ice cream at Ærøskøbing harbour and a ferry tour back to Svendborg. You know I love being on the water.
¶ June 02, 2025 4 comments
Here is the second part of my Back with Booty posts from Denmark (the first can be found here). 15 days won’t cover the country – even leaving out Copenhagen and surroundings which I visited years ago – but proved sufficient to see quite a few interesting places.
Odense is another town whose origins go back way into the past. The first time the name appears is a charte in which the German Emperor Otto III granted rights (unspecified; have to research that for future posts) to Odense in 988, but archaeological finds go beyond that. Odense had been a Vking settlement – one of Harald Bluetooth’s ring fortresses was buit here – though that past is mostly hidden under the present town.
Odense thrived in the Middle Ages, churches and monasteries were built, as well as handsome houses by merchants and major craftsmen. A large fire in 1247 (during the conflicts of one of the dysfunctional royal families) proved no major setback, albeit several damaged churches were rebuilt in a more 'modern' Gothic style. Prosperity continued after the Reformation – many of the fine houses date to the 16th and mid-17th century, but then an increase in taxes (result of the lost Dano-Swedish War 1657/58) led to a period of stagnation.
In the late 18th century, a canal was built from Odense harbour to the fjord at the Baltic Sea to faciliate the passage of larger ships, and since the 1840ies, industrialisation brought new prosperity to the city.
But not everyone participated in that development; there were still many poor people (living, like in the towns I mentioned in the first post, in those now so pretty little houses). The parents of Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), the famous Danish writer, were of those poor. Andersen could only attend high school and university thanks to grants.
Odense is proud of its famous citizen and has built a new museum – Andersen’s birth house has been one for a long time – a modern site, designed by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, that opened in 2021. I have not visited it since it is more a virtual and interactive presentation of Andersen’s fairy tales, but the gardens with the rotunds are free for everyone. The main museum is underground.
One of the highlights (besides the Viking Village near Ribe and the Vindelev treasure, see below) was the open air musem Den Fynske Landsby (the Funen Village) near Odense, which reminded me of a similar one in Molfsee near Kiel in Germany I mentioned at the end of this post. It was interesting to compare the styles of the houses and farms.
The Funen Village opened in 1946, but its establishment began in 1944 during the German occupation in WW2. Many old houses and farm buildings – most of them half timbered and with thatched roofs – from the 18th and 19th century had fallen into disuse and were replaced by modern stone buildings, which was felt to be a shame, because the past vanished. So the idea was born to dismantle such buildings and reassemble them in one place.
The village presents 25 buildings, farmsteads, crofter houses, a parsonage, a school, a watermill, a windmill, an inn (fully functional, though the food is modern, no gritty flour with chaff) and more. The oldest building dates to 1692, the youngest is from 1893. Besides the houses, there are also gardens, stables and pasture with livestock, and arable fields. In all, the village looks like something Hans Christian Andersen would have seen in his life, and it was a really nice place to explore on a sunny day.
Of course I wouldn’t miss one of Denmark’s most famous historical sites: The rune stones and burial mounds at Jelling. The older stone reads: "King Gorm made these monuments in memory of Thyra / his wife, Denmark’s bót." The meaning of bót is discussed, it can mean "Denmark’s adorment" but also "Denmark’s salvation". There are no contemporary sources outside the rune stones, but later sources present Thyra as a politically active queen who supported her husband.
The second stone was erected by their son Harald Bluethooth in honour of his parents, and to mark the Christianization of the Danes he had undertaken. Besides the text, there are a depiction of Christus and animal ornaments.
Gorm the Old (*~ 900 – † 958 or maybe 963) was a Danish king – whether he ruled all of Denmark is dubious, more likely he ruled over Jutland – with a semi-legendary ancestry. Not much is known about him except his marriage to Thyra and being the father of Harald Bluetooth and perhaps other children as well. About Thyra, even less is known.
Gorm’s son Harald Bluetooth is connected with the Viking Treasure of Hiddensee, and more shinies can now be seen in Jelling. I was lucky, since the exhibition of the Vindelev Treasure that has been discovered a few miles outside Jelling in 2020, had just opened two days before I visited the the museum.
The Vindelev Treasure is older than the finds of Hiddensee; the pieces date to the 5th/6th centuries AD and were deposited in a bog in the 6th century, during the Migration Period. It is assumed that the treasure was laid down as a sacrifice (which means that I’ll have to go back to the comment section of the Hiddensee post where I discussed the problem of safekeeping/sacrifice).
If someone thinks that the guy on the medaillon looks Roman – yes, he does; it’s Constantine the Great. Among the finds were not only 'Nordic' gold bracteates, but also Roman coins and medaillons. Trade connections and maybe even personal meetings went quite far at that time.
Another Viking site not far from Odense is the Ladby Ship. It is the only Danish ship burial (Norway got several), and the Danes were pretty excited when it was discovered in 1935. The conditions in the mound did not preserve wood very well, so most of what can be seen are impressions of the ship’s planks in the earth. Iron, on the other hand, preserves well, thus lots of nails and rivets have been found (in other sites, sometimes the timber is better preseverd and small iron objects rusted away). Most bones of the buried chief are missing, but those of several horses and dogs have been found, together with pieces to their tack.
Ladby is the only ship burial that has been conservated on site by encasing the ship in glass in an oblong room, and recreating the mound over it. The dim lights make it truly a burial.
When traveling to somewhat remote places by public transport, I usually have to aim for a nearby town with a bus/train connection and then catch a local bus, or walk a few miles, ask for a ride, or take a taxi. Though that way I often had some time to explore the towns
Kerteminde is one of those cute little towns with cute little houses. And a coffe shop with yummy cakes. *grin* Settlement in the area goes back to the 11th century, but rights of town were granted Kerteminde only in 1413. Like most other historical places, the town lies directly at the Baltic Sea coast.
Egeskov Castle is one of the main tourist attractions on Funen. It is a handsome Late Gothic building with a spacious park, a vintage car museum and a large children’s playground. I was warned not to go there on a weekend, but under the week in pre-holiday season it wasn’t too crowded.
Egeskov was built by the Danish nobleman Frands Mikkelsen Brockenhuus (1518-1569), military leader, diplomat, and member of the Royal Council, in 1554, though an older building on the grounds is mentioned in 1405. Since there had been a civil war just a few years prior (the Count’s War 1534-36), Brockenhuus made sure the castle was well fortified. He would die in another conflict, the Nordic Seven Years War (1563-1570), one of the many sub-conflicts in the Nordic Wars over the dominance in the Baltic Sea that lasted from 1554 to 1721.
Brockenhuus bought a lot of adjacent land and added the first park. The castle itself was erected in the lake, resting on oaken pillars (it is said he used up a forest of trees, thus the name Egeskov – oak forest). Access originally was by a drawbridge.
The estate came to the Bille-Brahe family in 1784 and was inherited by the counts Ahlefeldt Laurvid-Bille who still own the castle and park.
Svendborg is another town with a number of nice old houses, but I admit, I didn’t take so many photos this time. I got enough colourful little houses already. And since those houses are lived in, you sometimes get cars parking in front, or the ground floor taken up by stores and boutiques; Svendborg is a shopping town and got a main street full of those.
The old character is better preserved in Ærøskøbing on the island of Ærø. One of the reasons is that its importance never went beyond the local trade and crafts, other than large towns like Aarhus or Odense. So the town was never 'modernised' the way those larger cities have been. Today, the townscape is deliberately kept since Ærøskøbing has become a tourist destination; tourism providing its major income.
The town dates to 1250, but a fire in 1629 destroyed most of it. The town recovered, though, and the old houses were rebuilt, and newer, somewhat larger ones added that show stylistic influences from Funen and northern Germany. Today, the old houses – the oldest dating to 1645 – are lovingly kept. The paint needs to be refurbished regularly; one lady was painstakingly recolouring a black stripe when I walked through the lanes.
The last afternoon in Denmark ended with an ice cream at Ærøskøbing harbour and a ferry tour back to Svendborg. You know I love being on the water.
¶ June 02, 2025 4 comments
