Beautiful Denmark
This site visits beautiful nature areas and interesting cultural sights in Danmark, which has existed as a kingdom for more than 1000 years. Danmark is a commonwealth with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The reader can see numerous photos from the two latter parts of the country under the topic ‘Rejseindtryk’ on the Danish version of the website (click on the flag). Danmark is a small country with an area of just under 43,000 km2, where Jylland is a peninsula bordering Germany. In addition, the country consists of 1,419 islands, of which 78 are inhabited, with Sjælland, with its capital city København, being the largest island. The total coastline is 8,750 km. The country has almost 6 million inhabitants, of which 84.6% are of Danish origin, while the rest are immigrants and their descendants. The left image is a satellite photo. Click on the photo for place names. Red squares are cities, yellow squares are sights. In the text place names are in Danish.
How the country is connected
The country is connected by a number of bridges, ferry routes and railways in addition to domestic flights. Two bridges connect Jylland with the second largest island of Fyn. The old Lillebæltsbro (above) was inaugurated in May 1935. It is 1178 m long and can be passed by trains, cars, bicycles and pedestrians. The new Lillebæltsbro (left) is 1700 m long and was inaugurated in October 1970. It is intended for cars only.
Storebæltsbroen connects Fyn and Sjælland. It is a combined road and railway bridge, where the railway runs in a tunnel on the section between Sjælland and Sprogø. The railway opened on June 6, 1997 and the road bridge opened June 14, 1998. Between Fyn and Sprogø, the bridge consists of a 6,611 m long low bridge plus 2.5 km on Sprogø and then a 6,790 m long suspension bridge between Sprogø and Sjælland. The pylons on the high bridge are 254 m high and the maximum navigation height is 70 m. The pylons are thus higher than the country’s highest point of 171 m (Møllehøj). The bridge was briefly closed on July 2, 2022 for the Tour de France to pass. You pay a toll to cross the bridge.
There are many other bridges in the country. One of them is Queen Alexandrine’s Bridge, which connects Sjælland with the island of Møn. It is a nearly 750 m long bridge that was operational on May 30, 1943. There is also a combined tunnel and bridge from København to Sweden, and a tunnel from Lolland to Germany is under construction.
The railway network is now electrified over large parts of the country. In addition, the capital has a metro.
Danmark is the country of bicycles. This is illustrated here by a section of the bicycle parking at Nørreport Station in København.
In some places you manage with alternatives such as a cable ferry (Udbyhøj, Randers Fjord) or a tractor to the island of Vorsø in Horsens Fjord. The island Mandø in the Wadden Sea is served in the same way.
The past
The Hulbjerg passage grave in southern Langeland was built in the Stone Age 5000-7000 years ago. It has been used as a burial ground for important people for hundreds of years. During the excavation in 1960, bones from at least 53 people were found, as well as traces of drilling with a flint tool in a tooth and in a brain shell (trepanning). Click on the diagram for enlargement. Source: sign on the site. If you want to see the large burial chamber, you have to crawl on your knees and bring a flashlight.
Grave mound (round barrow) from the Stone Age in Dyrehaven north of København.
Remains of stone cist (single man’s grave), from Younger Stone Age, Rådvad.
Firehøje at Randbøl are four burial mounds from the Bronze Age. They are placed visibly high in the landscape by Hærvejen, which was then the main north-south road through Jutland. A 5th mound can be seen in the background.
Danmark’s largest field of petroglyphs is found on a glaciated granite surface on Lille Madsebakke near Allinge-Sandvig on the island of Bornholm. In the Bronze Age, among others 11 ships, 5 solar crosses, 4 footprints and a greater number of bowl pits were carved. At right a solar cross and a ship with a man are seen.
The sun chariot is a unique find from the Older Bronze Age made in Trondholm bog in NW-Sjælland in 1902. The sun chariot is made of gold and bronze. It is more than 2400 years old and the ornamentation on the sun disk reveals that the sun chariot is of Nordic origin. It has been imagined that a divine horse pulled the sun across the sky. Photographed at the National Museum. Parts of a sun disc have also been found in Jægersborg Hegn north of Dyrehaven.
The golden horns were found in a field at Gallehus near Møgeltønder. They are considered to be from The Iron Age and well over 1,600 years old. They were found 100 years apart, but only about 20 m apart, which is marked by the two memorial stones shown above. The gold horns are richly decorated with both animal and human motifs, and they were probably used as drinking cups on religious occasions. In 1802, both gold horns were unfortunately stolen by a goldsmith and remelted, so the two horns in the National Museum are recreated copies. The bottom pair is believed to be rendered too large. In addition, an original drawing used for the reconstruction is shown, as well as at the bottom at right two earrings that are believed to represent the original gold, while approx. 7 kg has disappeared.
One of 10 ship tumuluses/stone ships from the Younger Iron Age on Hjarnø in Horsens Fjord. Legend has it that King Hjarne was buried here around the year 0.
Triangular burial site on Hjarnø from the Younger Iron Age – probably a man’s grave.
Lindholm Høje near Ålborg is a burial ground from the Younger Iron Age and the Viking Age. It has been used for around 600 years between the years 400 and 1000. For a long period it was covered by flying sand, but in 1958 it was completely excavated. There are almost 700 graves, and the vast majority are cremation graves, meaning that the body has been burned on the spot marked with stones. It has been found that women’s graves are circular, while men’s graves are triangular or ship-shaped.
There are four runic stones from the Viking Age at Ålum church. On the stone to the left it says with reference to Christianity: ‘Vigot erected this stone after his son Esge. God help his soul well’. Up to 200 runestones are known in Danmark. Click on the photo and see painted runes on the Tirslund stone exhibited at the National Museum.
At Bække Church in South Jutland stands an approx. 1050-year-old runestone from the Viking Age with the inscription “Ravnunge-Tue and Fundin and Gnyple, the three made Thyra’s mound”. It is noteworthy that the text refers to building a mound and is not in honor of a person. 1 km to the south stands another runestone with Ravnunge-Tue’s name.
Queen Thyre’s mound by Jelling church.
The small Jelling rune stone.
King Gorm den Gamle erected the small Jelling rune stone after his wife Thyre around the year 950. The stone is the oldest source where Danmark is mentioned in writing. The large three-sided rune stone was erected by the son Harald Blåtand after his father Gorm the Old and mother Thyre approx. 15 years later. It is noteworthy that the text on the front is written in horizontal lines. The second side shows mythical animals and the 3rd side Jesus crucifixion. The stone thus marks the transition from Heathen faith to Christianity. Due to the wear and tear of the weather, the stones are today encased in glass cases.
Fyrkat at Hobro in Himmerland is one of five ring castles built in the Viking Age, probably by Harald Blåtand, who ruled the country. Both Fyrkat and Trelleborg on Sjælland are dated to the year 980. All ringed castles are included in UNESCO’s world heritage list. Fyrkat’s inner diameter is 120 m and the castle housed 16 longhouses. It was built on a promontory surrounded by water and swamp and was thus well protected from intruders. There is a Viking center attached with reconstructions of, among other things longhouses. The right picture shows a reconstruction of Danmark’s largest longhouse from the Viking Age found approx. 2 km NW of Lejre by Roskilde. The royal longhouse is more than 60 m long and over 10 m high.
Imprint of the Ice Age
The broad lines in the landscape were created by ice age glaciers and the melting 10,000 years ago. The maximum extent of the ice sheet is marked by the ice front, which divides Jylland in a north-south direction approximately to Limfjorden, where it turns westward to the sea. East and north of this line the landscape is hilly with valleys and lakes as well as predominantly fertile land and forest, west of the line the landscape is mainly flat with washed out land and heaths (yellow on the map), while the sea and weather have shaped the coasts. The gray areas on the map are hill islands, i.e. moraine landscapes raised above the last ice age’s melting surfaces and formed during the previous ice age more than 70,000 years ago. The details of today’s landscape are primarily created by human activity in the construction of buildings, roads, railways, dykes, gravel pits, fields, drainage and straightening of streams, etc.
After the melting of the ice, the whole country was strewn with loose boulders of various sizes, as here in shallow water at Nordskoven in Roskilde Fjord on Sjælland, but as agriculure increased in size, the land was practically cleared of loose stones.
Moraine landscape with Agri Bavnehøj in the national park Mols Bjerge on Djursland.
Rebild Bakker in Himmerland is, like Mols Bjerge, a heath landscape east of the ice front. The hills have been created by ice age meltwater rivers cutting into the moraine landscape. The vegetation is dominated by heather and juniper bushes. Every year on July 4, the United States’ national day is celebrated in Rebild Bakker by emigrant Danes. Rebild Bakker is now a national park together with Rold Skov.
Hald sø and Dollerup Bakker approx. 10 km south of Viborg. Hald sø is one of the country’s deepest lakes. It arose as a hole after death-ice, where a large lump of ice during the ice age has pressed down the subsoil and then melted on the spot. Hærvejen is the oldest main thoroughfare through Jylland. It largely follows the Jylland ridge and thus the watershed. On sandy stretches, several wheel tracks can still be seen side by side in some places. In the picture at right Hærvejen follows Hald lake. Hærvejen is one of the country’s most beautiful hiking routes, even though several stretches of it are now asphalted.
Lakes and steams
Examples of lake landscapes. At left Selsø with greylag goose on Sjælland and at right Lake Skanderborg in Jylland.
There is usually a rich birdlife at the lakes. Here it is Lake Gentofte on Sjælland with a swan and a crested grebe. Water lilies are also seen.
Denmark has no proper rivers, but many streams of all sizes. At left a small stream in Grejsdalen near Vejle. In the middle, Gudenåen, which is both the largest and longest stream, and at right Skjern å, where it runs through the Hastrup plantation in West Jylland.
Heaths, bogs and marshes
Lundby heath in Himmerland with heather vegetation. Heaths occur on washed out nutrient-poor soil.
Heather (Calluna vulgaris) is a dominant plant on heathland and moors. It blooms at the end of July and August.
Kongenshus heath 25 km SW of Viborg is a memorial park for ‘herreder’ (administrative districts) and people of special importance for the cultivation of the heath, and along the gorge in the picture at left there are a number of herred stones that mark which herreder contributed people to the cultivation of the heath. At the end of the gorge there is a meeting place with memorial stones for the most important heath cultivators. Today, people try to preserve heatland and use e.g. sheep to prevent the heath from developing into forest.
Lille Vildmose is a raised bog in eastern Vendsyssel. It is Denmark’s largest protected area at 76 km2. The raised bog lies on top of the raised seabed of the Paleolithic Sea, and over 2000 years the bog’s layer of peat moss (Sphagnum) has grown 5 m thick with an increase of 4-5 mm per year. In the background you can see Mulbjerge, a morainic hill country that once formed the coastline of the Litorina Sea.e.
Forest borders the bog in several places, and in the total area there is a larger population of red deers than in Dyrehaven near København, and there are around 150 wild boars in Tofte Forest. There is also a rich bird life at the lakes, and the golden eagle breeds in the forest. A raised bog is nutrient-poor, so there are only about 15 species of flowering plants in the bog in addition to the Sphagnum mosses. At right can be seen long-leaved Sundew (Drosera anglica), but you can also find cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) and mulberry (Rubus chamaemorus) in addition to heather (Calluna vulgaris), crooss-leaved Heath (Erica tetralix) and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum).
In Southern Jylland, the Vidåen flows into the Wadden Sea through a lock system at Højer. The lock is located at the 12 km long, 100 m wide and 7.4 m high Danish-German dike, and the purpose of the dike and the lock is to protect against flooding of the low field landscape during storm surges. The dyke was established after a storm surge in January 1976, when Tønder town had to be evacuated. The dike was completed in 1981.
The Wadden Sea and the marshes are an important foraging area for birds, and it is now a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site. At left Eurasian oystercatchers are seen, while the other two photos illustrate the murmering phenomenon, i.e. starlings murmering in formation flight at sunset before resting for the night in the reeds.
The Wadden Sea Center at Vester Vedsted southwest of Ribe opened in February 2017. The roof and walls of the center are covered with reed (Phragmites australis) from the Wadden Sea, and it tells a remarkable story about the formation and development of the Wadden Sea as well as the flora and fauna in the area.
It is also worth visiting Kommandørgården on Rømø, located in the Wadden Sea. The buildings are located on a wharf, i.e. an earth embankment that raises the buildings above the surroundings and thus reduces the risk of flooding. Before the dikes were built, all houses and farms were built on wharfs. Kommandørgården is a family farm from the 17th century and today part of the National Museum, where, among other things, you can see the skeleton of a sperm whale stranded on the island in 1996. Unfortunately, tourists have broken off several of the ivory teeth, so they have been replaced by plastic ones.
The coasts
The sea, and especially the North Sea/Vesterhavet, has a colossal influence on the design of the Danish coasts. During a storm, the waves gnaw at the shores, and currents and wind move the materials around, whether it is an open sandy beach with dunes or a limestone cliff like the 47 m high Bulbjerg. The rock acts as a nesting ground for several seabirds, primarily terns and mallards. There used to be an isolated 16 m high cliff, Skarreklit, a stone’s throw from the beach, but it fell during a storm in 1978.
Klitter med marehalm (Ammophila arenaria) ved Tversted i Vendsyssel.
Råbjerg mile is a drifting dune that moves a few meters from west to east year after year due to the dominant westerly wind.
In Limfjorden, which cuts Vendsyssel and Thy from the rest of Jutland, lies the island of Mors with Hanklit. It is a 60 m high cliff of moler (a sort of clay) with embedded dark layers of volcanic ash. A glacial advance has pushed the cliff up so that the stratification has been folded. The moler is rich in fossils of marine origin, and many can be seen at the Moler museum in Nykøbing Mors.
The long coastline and the many islands also mean that there are many lighthouses to warn shipping. Above you can see the 22 m tall lighthouse on the western tip of Omø, which lies south of Storebæltsbroen. The island can be reached by ferry from Stigsnæs on Sjælland. The lighthouse and lighthouse keeper’s residence were ready in 1894.
Røsnæs is a 15 km long peninsula or headland on Sjælland. The peninsula is a marginal moraine from the Ice Age, and it consists largely of plastic clay. Therefore, landslides occasionally occur in the coastline, so that valleys are formed towards the coast. The south-facing slopes are protected. There is a rich flora and fauna on the headland. Above you can see the semiparasite field cow-wheat (Melampyrum arvense) and a male field lizard.
Denmark’s subsoil consists mainly of chalk and then limestone deposited in the sea during the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. This underground is exposed in the approx. 15 km long and up to 41 m high Stevns Klint on Sjælland. The top of the cliff is flat and consists of moraines. The cliff is protected and now on the UNESCO world heritage list because it contains a thin layer of fish clay with fossils that indicates that our globe approx. 66 million years ago was hit by a meteor impact, which led to, among other things, the extinction of the dinosaurs. The dark flint layers in the limestone mark bryozoan banks on the sea floor. The flint is formed by the dissolution of silica shells, which are then precipitated as silica crystals, primarily in tubes dug by worms and crustaceans. Stevns Klint Experience near Rødvig is a museum that tells all about the history of Stevns Klint.
Top left a layer of flint can be seen in the cliff. At right is Højerup old church, which was consecrated in 1357 and abandoned in 1910 due to danger of falling into the sea, and on March 16, 1928 the chancel and parts of the tower slipped into the sea, which had undercut the cliff. Landslides occur especially in the spring after frost, when the autumn and winter rain has penetrated into cracks in the limestone. At left the 3-7 cm thick dark fish clay boundary layer between Cretaceous and Quaternary is located in the angle below the overhang. The close-up above is by Jan Adolfssen. – The peregrine falcon breeds on Stevns Klint.
Lime and chalk are used in several places at Stevns, e.g. at the large Sigerslev Kalkbrud, which lies all the way to the coast. There is a hiking trail along the cliff, and here you can e.g. see the holo-parasite tall broomrape (Orobanche elatior), which parasitizes knapweed (Centaurea spp).
On the east side of the island of Møn south of Sjælland lies another impressive chalk cliff that is 7 km long and up to 128 m high. The chalk was formed 70-75 million years ago from microscopic limestone plates (coccoliths) that covered the surface of single-celled yellow algae and fell to the bottom of the tropical ocean when the algae died. Elevation of the sea floor and ice age pressure from glaciers have pushed the thick limestone layers up into an almost vertical position. Parts of the cliff are rich in fossil marine animals. The top of the cliff is largely covered by beech forest.
Due to landslides, the appearance of the cliff changes from year to year. At the southern end, where the cliff is not so high and where the chalk layers lie flatter, narrow layers of flint are seen as described for Stevns Klint.
Landslides occur regularly, especially in winter and spring. A landslide drags trees and other vegetation down towards the sea. Many beech trees continue to grow as long as they are not affected by salt water. The landslide shown here is from 2007. Early in January 2024 a very large landslide did occur, which had a width of 175 m and reached 380 m into the sea. A single French tourist died in 1994 during a landslide.
The easiest way to get to Møns Klint is to enter from the south end at Møns lighthouse. You can walk along the beach or on a path on top of the cliff. You can also drive directly to GeoCenter Møns Klint, which is an excellent museum about the natural history of the cliff. There are two flights of steps down to the beach, one by the museum. Both were severely damaged below during the storm in December 2023, but are expected to be re-established during 2024. There are many lime-tolerant species in the beech forest. Shown here are red helleborine (Cephalanthera rubra) and the chlorophyllless bird’s-nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis).
Three orchids from Jydelejet, Møns Klint are shown here: Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis), Large cuckoo herb (Orchis purpurea) and Forest cuckoo herb (Dactylorhiza maculata ssp. fuchsii).
The island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea stands out in that the granite, gneiss and sandstone of the subsurface emerge along the coasts. At right is it the camel’s heads at Hammershus, where storm gulls have nests on top. However, the camel heads are best seen from another angle.
The easternmost place in Denmark is Østerskær in the Ertholmene archipelago NE of Bornholm. All the islands are rocky islands, and Frederiksø and Christiansø were built as a defensive structure with a ring wall and a tower. The defense was important in the Swedish wars and in the war with England, as well as in the fight against pirates from Northern Germany (the Hanseatic States). But as the weapons became more powerful, the masonry could not hold, and the facility was abandoned as both a fortress and a state prison in 1856. Construction of the fortress began in 1680. Tha large round tower on Christinasø is now a museum and a lighthouse. The map is based on Google Earth.
Anholt - a true natural gem
Anholt is Kattegat’s most isolated island with a size of approx. 22 km2. If you sail from Grenå to Anholt, you pass the Anholt offshore wind farm. Towards the SW, the island consists of an up to 48 m high moraine hill country, while the majority of the island consists of a protected dune-desert (Ørkenen) on raised seabed with beach ridges partly overlain by up to 25 m high coastal and inland dunes. The youngest land towards the NW, Flakket, was added after the harbor was completed in 1902. This changed the current conditions, and when the NW-reef was dug away and used for the construction of the Storebælts-bridge, Flakket has halved in size, just like the tip of the island, Totten, has been greatly reduced. See much more about the island in the article https://viscum.dk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/anholt_naturperle.pdf (in Danish).
In the past, the island’s main industry was fishing, but there are no longer fishing boats based on Anholt. There is plenty of life in the harbor when the ferry arrives and departs, and in the summer months the harbor is filled with yachts.
90% of the island’s about 150 permanent residents live in the town of Anholt, where there is a school, community center, grocery store, doctor, and a church.
View of the Nordstrand and the desert from Nordbjerg. In the wetlands behind the dunes, there are sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) and marsh clubmoss (Lycopodium inundatum). – See below.
Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia).
Marsh clubmoss (Lycopodium inundatum)
You can walk approx. 8 km through the desert from the town to the lighthouse or you can walk/cycle approx. 9 km from the harbor along Nordstranden to the lighthouse. Anholt lighthouse is located at the foot of Anholt reef, where many ships were stranded. The 42 m tall lighthouse was ready in 1785.
The lighthouse keeper’s yard is shaped like a ship, but since the lighthouse is now automated, the lighthouse keeper’s yard is no longer a service residence. The view of Nordstranden from the lighthouse is fantastic. The lighthouse was put into function in 1785.
At Anholt’s easternmost tip, Totten, both gray seals and harbor seals live, but you can also see them coming ashore on both Nordstrand and Sønderstrand. The gray seal is Denmark’s largest predator.
Especially during migration, many birds can be seen all over the island. The Arctic tern (left) breeds at Flakket. In the middle you can see a common sandpiper and at right, a common ringed plover. Lesser black-backed gulls, European herring gulls, and the great black-backed gull breed in the desert.
The desert is species-poor in flowering plants. Crowberry, juniper, gray hair-grass, and sedges dominate, but it is exceptionally rich in lichens. In the figure at left a Stone Age beach ridge runs through the middle of the picture. The hill at right called Ostebakken is artificial. Here, from 1708-1788, there was a bascule light with Norwegian coal as fuel. In 1561, lighthouses were established on Skagen and Anholt. In the 1500s, Anholdt was partly covered with forest, but the forest was quickly used as fuel for the fire. In 1629, the first bascule light was built on Totten, but fire and erosion from the sea made it necessary to move the lighthouse inland to Ostebakken, which is now overgrown with pine trees.
Examples of lichens in the desert. At left Cladonia floerkeana and at right Cladonia uncialis.
In the middle of the desert, behind the dunes along Sønderstrand, there is a wetland called Porsemosen. Here bog myrtle (Myrica gale) and bell-heather (Erica tetralix) grow as well as a rare orchid northern fen orchid (Dactylorhiza majalis ssp. purpurella).
The hill country in the SW is partly wooded, while the fields are mostly used for grazing sheep.
In several places in the Western Forest, Linnaea borealis grows, and there are deer and other lichens such as Cladonia portentosa.
Sunrise over Nordstranden.
Sunset over Anholt harbour.
Forest and Animal Parks
5,000 years after the Ice age, the whole of Denmark was covered with oak, beech and birch as the most widespread species, but with time almost all the forest was cleared in favour of arable farming. However, the forest area is now growing again, and almost 14.5% of the country is today covered with deciduous forest, especially beech, in the moraine country and coniferous forest with red spruce and sitka spruce as dominant on the washed-out lands in West Jylland. In the coming years, large agricultural areas are expected to be planted with forest or laid out as wetlands. There are also a number of Christmas tree plantations with Abies nordmanniana. In recent years, the sea eagles have built nests in several large beech trees.
Earlier the beech bursts in the first days of May with completely light green leaves arranged in a leaf mosaic, which ensures that all leaves are illuminated in the best possible way. It is a breathtaking sight. Now, due to climate change, it already happens at the end of April. At the same time, the forest floor is in most places dotted with wood Anemone, Corydalis spp., Primula spp. and a number of other species.
In the autumn, the forest again delivers a fascinating play of colors when the green chlorophyll breaks down and is pulled out of the leaves, so that the red and yellow pigments (carotenoids) become visible. Birch forest may thrive on more moist soil with an undercover of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum). On the more nutrient-poor soils, coniferous forest dominates.
The oak forest used to dominate the moraine lands, but now it is the beech forest. Denmark’s oldest oak trees are in Jægerspris Nordskov on Sjælland. Much of the original oak forest was used for shipbuilding. At left is Snoegen (photo 1967), which is at least 700 years old, and above it is Kongeegen (photo 1986), which is considered to be at least 1,500 years, perhaps 2,000 years old, but there is only a single living branch left. The circumference has been over 14 m. A 3rd old oak of at least 800 years, Storkeegen, died in 1980. It was named after a pair of storks built a nest at the top of the tree.
In addition to zoos in the largest cities, there are several large zoos in the country, e.g. Knuthenborg on Lolland, which also contains a dinosaur museum, Givskud in Central Jylland, Randers Regnskov in East Jutland and above Ree Dyrepark on Djursland, where you can drive around among the animals on a small train.
Examples of animals in Ree Animal Park: bison, lemurs and black bear.
Dyrehaven north of Copenhagen is about a 10 km2 forest and flat landscape with small lakes. In 1669, the absolute King Frederik III had a minor part of the current Dyrehave fenced off for hunting purposes. His successor, King Christian V, greatly expanded the area and laid down the village of Stokkerup on the plain in front of the Hermitage Castle (completed as a hunting lodge in 1736), and a star-shaped trail system was laid out so that parforce hunting with dogs could be conducted.
The Hermitage Castle is used for royal hunting lunches and dinners and is only open to the public on special occasions. In the dining room on the first floor, there was originally a round lift table that could be raised from the kitchen in the basement in a fully covered state, so that the meal could be held undisturbed without waiters, but it was abandoned as early as 1759.
Every year on the first Sunday in October, an exercise race is held in Dyrehaven and on the first Sunday in November a Hubertus hunt is held, where riders and horses must jump over a series of obstacles. Both races gather thousands of spectators. It is particularly attractive to stand by the Magasin Dam to the east of the castle, because it sometimes happens that a rider falls in the water when the pond has to be passed. At right Crown Princess Mary (now Queen) and two princesses enjoy the run at the castle. See also the page’s first photo.
The entire park is fenced in, but there is access via a number of red gates. At several of these there is a gate house which is the home for forest guards. Above you can see Slettehus by Hjortekær. Behind Slettehus is the lake Hjortekæret, where in the harsh winters you can go ice skating and in the summer you can watch birdlife (see below).
Grey heron
Greylag goose
Mute swan
The deer park is run as a natural forest, i.e. there is no commercial logging, and old and diseased trees are allowed to fall and remain. It promotes biodiversity. The 3,000 deer in the park make sure to ‘cut’ the trees so that the crowns do not reach the ground. At the same time, the light-open forest is a prerequisite for the successful re-establishment of a population of Danmark’s largest beetle, the European stag beetle.
After being extinct in Denmark since the 1970s, the European stag beetle was reintroduced, among others in five places in Dyrehaven in 2013. The larvae live in oak tree roots and oak stumps, and they develop into adult animals after approx. 4 years (3-5), and both females and males were present in 2017. Adult animals were also found in June 2023. At left both a female and a male are seen, the male is by far the largest.
Dyrehaven is Danmark’s most visited attraction.
There are approximately 2,700 fallow deer in Dyrehaven. The picture at left is from July, when the antlers are as good as grown and the skin is ready to be rubbed off before rutting time in September. The living skin is rubbed off against branches or tree trunks, where the bark is often peeled off. At right battle-ready fallow deer rest.
In October, all the fallow deer gather at the rutting ground west of the Hermitage Castle, and the fallow deer fight over stands and try to hold on to a herd of does. The fallow deer is not native to Denmark, but has spread from escaped animals from deer farms established in the 1980s.
Der er godt 300 kronhjorte i Dyrehaven, og deres brunsttid ligger i september. Når hjorten er 8-10 år gammel er den stærkest med det største gevir og i stand til at holde på et harem af hinder. Virker brølet ikke afskrækkende kommer det til kamp mellem hannerne. Kronhjorten findes også mange steder i Jylland.
There are about 50 sika deer in Dyrehaven. The Sika deer is slightly smaller than the fallow deer and has no spots on its fur. It originates from Asia and was introduced to Denmark around the year 1900. – Jægersborg Hegn is an extension of Dyrehaven to the north, and here you can see roe deer, the smallest and most common deer species in Denmark, with occurrence in both forest, heath and dune and farmland.
The skylark is in decline in Denmark, but it can still be seen on the plains in Dyrehaven.
Great spotted woodpecker digging a nest hole in a beech tree. In the past, the black woodpecker also bred in Dyrehaven.
Immediately north of Dyrehaven runs the stream Mølleåen, and here you can see both white-throated dipper, kingfishers and now and then a cormorant.
Dyrehaven’s most hilly terrain is called Ulvedalene (Wolf Valleys). Here, the Royal Theater organizes an open-air performance every second summer. On June 23 it is St. Hans evening (Saint John’s Eve), when the birth of John the Baptist is celebrated and witches are sent to Bloksbjerg with bonfires in numerous places in the country. In Dyrehaven. The amusement park Bakken also organizes festive fireworks on Kildesøen.
The cultivated land
Denmark is Europe’s most cultivated country, with 57% of the land under the plough, to which a further 4-5% is used for permanent grazing areas, but efforts are being made to turn especially low-lying moist lands into nature and to increase the forest area at the expense of agriculture. Many fields are surrounded by hedges. This applies especially to West Jylland for protection against the westerly wind. The landscape above is from Møn.
Flowering rapeseed field.
Barley field with poppies as weeds.
In August, the cornfields are harvested. The most important varieties are barley, wheat, oats and rye and, with the warmer climate, also maize. Other crops are rapeseed, peas, potatoes and sugar beet.
Grazing young cows and horses.
Hares and barn swallows are common in the open cultivated country, but the northern lapwing (nest is shown) is in sharp decline. Partridges and pheasants are also present.
Housing/Build-up land
In Denmark, there is one big million city, the capital of København. In addition, 7 cities, Aarhus, Odense, Ålborg, Esbjerg, Randers, Horsens, and Kolding, have between 60,000 and 300,000 inhabitants. In addition, there are many smaller towns and a large number of villages with less than 2,000 inhabitants. Unfortunately, several of the smal villages are being faced out as a result of the centralization of schools, hospitals and commerce. Above is the village of Løve on Sjælland with a Dutch mill rebuilt in 1881 after a fire.
Along the coasts, larger areas are set aside for summer houses.
Rådvad immediately north of Dyrehaven was a small industrial community based on water power from Mølleåen, but the factory buildings are used today by artisans.
Nedre Strandkær is a family farm from approx. 1730 in the national park Mols Bjerge. In 1941 the Natural History Museum in Århus took over the farm, and it is now used for research and teaching, but is also rented out for celebrations.
Around the country, like here on Hjarnø in Horsens Fjord, there are still old farms with boulder walls.
In the past, the houses were often built as half-timbered. This is the hotel Postgården in Mariager. The original farm can be dated to around 1660.
There are still examples where the farms used to be gathered around a village pond like here in Sønderby on Sjælland.
Landscape with scattered farms surrounded by fields. .
Helligpeder fishing ground on Bornholm. Several of the houses have smokehouses with tall chimneys. Herring is still smoked on the island, but now on a much smaller scale. The smoked herring is considered a great delicacy.
Single-family houses in a small village on the island of Endelave
In many cities, there are still a few paved streets, such as in Møgeltønder in Southern Jylland.
Ribe in South-West Jylland is Denmark’s oldest city, built in the year 700. From the tower of the cathedral you have a magnificent view over the flat marsh landscape and the Castle Bank with the moat to the west of the city. The Vikings and ships of later times could sail on Ribe stream from the North Sea into the city.
Ribe has experienced several dramatic storm surges, and on Skibsbroen you can see the storm surge column, which marks with rings how high the water level has been during the respective storm surges. The worst was in 1634 (upper ring), when the water stood almost 2 m above the floor in the Cathedral, and many lives were lost. Dikes along the Wadden Sea coast and Kammerslusen (Chamber Lock) have prevented floods since 1912.
Ribe has Denmark’s second oldest cathedral school (high school). However, the large chestnut tree in the middle of the school yard no longer exists. The school is located in the paved Puggårdsgade, where there are several old half-timbered houses.
Ribe’s smallest house is located in Klostergade.
Beautiful half-timbered buildings in Sønderportsgade.
Sønderborg – note the castle behind the bridge.
Sønderborg harbour.
In Kolding in East Jylland, a miniature version of the town has been built with the castle ruin of Koldinghus towering over the town on the Castle Bank.
Churches and castles
Ribe’s oldest church was built by Saint Ansgar in 860, while the current 5-nave cathedral dates from 1110-1134. The current square civic tower is 50 m high with 248 steps to the viewing platform.
The Danish artist Carl-Henning Pedersen has decorated the choir in Ribe Cathedral.
Viborg Cathedral is Northern Europe’s largest church built in granite. The first church was built around the year 1130, while the current church was consecrated in 1876. At the bottom of the outer wall of the choir are two ashlars with a lion motif. They are either from a former church on the site or from another dismantled church in the area. The church is rich in biblical motifs painted by Joakim Skovgaard. King Erik Klipping, who was murdered in Finderup Lade in 1286, is buried in the church.
Many churches are located in the city center, but in many villages the church is more isolated or completely free in the countryside surrounded by a wall. The vast majority of churches in the countryside are whitewashed, but there are also churches in red brick. Here it is Endelave, Vejlby near Århus and Tårnborg church on Sjælland.
Rømø church is unusual in having a large square church room, and from the ceiling hangs a large number of model ships built by the island’s many sailors. The pointed slate roof of the church tower is characteristic of many churches in West Jylland.
Many churches are decorated with frescoes, and some of the finest can be found on eastern Møn – here it is Keldby church.
Elmelunde church on eastern Møn is another example of fine frescoes.
Nylars Rundkirke is one of four round churches on the island of Bornholm. It is believed to have been built in the 12th century in three half-timbered storeys as a defensive structure. The church has a separate bell tower.
The sand-covered church SW of Skagen is believed to have been built at the end of the 14th century, but after 400 years the drifting sand covered the church, and it was stopped in use in 1795. Today only the tower is visible.
For more than 400 years, the Kronborg fortress at Helsingør was the headquarters for the collection of the Øresund toll. It began in the 15th century, when Erik of Pomerania had the fortress built. In the middle of the 16th century, Frederik II modernized Kronborg Castle, which became one of the finest castles of the Renaissance, and Shakespeare set the drama Hamlet for the castle. The castle’s roof and furnishings burned in 1626, and the Swedes occupied the castle during the war in 1658, but from 1660 the castle came back into Danish hands. A cannon salute is fired from Kronborg at royal events.
Spøttrup in the Salling countryside is Denmark’s best-preserved medieval castle. It is considered to have been built before 1404, but was only completed in the 1520s with a 9 m high rampart between a double moat. The castle has never been conquered.
Hammershus on the island Bornholm is today only a ruin. The medieval castle is believed to have been built in the 13th century. The castle has led a changeable life between the king, the church and the Swedes, but gradually it was allowed to fall into disrepair and the stones were used for other buildings. It also served as a state prison during a period when Leonora Christina and Corfitz Ulfeldt were prisoners. The ruin was protected in 1822.
The oldest parts of Frederiksborg Castle at Hillerød date from 1560 and were built by king Frederik II, but his son Christian IV demolished most of it and had a larger and more pompous castle built in the years 1600-1625. It is surrounded by Lake Hillerød and a moat.
A curved bridge leads over the moat to the forecourt with the fountain.
Outer courtyard with fountain and inner courtyard at Frederiksborg Castle.
Church hall with the organ at Frederiksborg Castle.
Dining hall at Frederiksborg Castle.
The hall of knights contains a number of paintings of royal persons.
In 1996, part of the castle park was recreated as a baroque garden.
The royal family inhabits four castles at different times of the year. Amalienborg (at left) in København consists of four almost identical mansions around an octagonal square. Official actions take place here, and the Lifeguard stands guard every day. Queens Ingrid and Margrethe II have for many years gathered the royal family in the summer at Gråsten Castle in Sønderjylland (at right). A large public park and a large vegetable garden belong to the castle. The other castles are Marselisborg in Aarhus and Fredensborg in North Sjælland.
Jægerspris Castle is a three-winged castle in North Sjælland, where the oldest part dates from the 14th century. For 600 years, the castle was used as the kings’ hunting lodge. Now it is a museum.
Tranekær castle on Langeland is an angular castle whose history goes back to the 13th century. It remains privately owned. The horse stable functions as a castle inn.
Skanderborg Castle in Central Jylland was, at the end of the 12th century, a large quadrangular royal castle located on an island in Lake Skanderborg. Today, only a single wing with the church remains.
Koldinghus was founded as a quadrangular royal castle in the 12th century and was rebuilt over time by several kings including Christian IV, who added the square tower. In 1808 the castle burned, and it lay for more than 100 years as a considerable ruin, but has now been partially restored and is used as a museum and for cultural events.
The courtyard at Koldinghus.
The church hall at Koldinghus.
Gjorslev Castle on Stevns was built by the church in 1396, but has been privately owned since 1536. The castle is built in the form of a cross with a 30 m high tower in the middle. The estate is run as a farm, but tours and concerts are also held at the castle. It is built of limestone from Stevns Klint.
Egeskov Castle on Fyn was built in 1554 in predominantly Renaissance style, while the associated stud farm can be traced back to the 15th century. The estate has been owned by several noble families and is still privately owned.
Egeskov estate is run as agriculture, but there is also considerable investment in tourism: There are guided tours of the castle and an extensive garden. At left is it the hunting lounge and at right a living room.
Another attraction at Egeskov is the vintage car museum, where there is a large collection of cars, motorcycles and planes including Falck cars. On the right is Christian X’s restored Cadillac.
Gram Castle was a royal castle that was mentioned for the first time in 1232, but it was located 3 km NW of the current castle, which is situated in the scenic Slotssøen, which is an extension of Gram Å (stream), which flows into Ribe Å. Approx. in 1500, the buildings were moved to their current location, but the castle was not completed until 1670, and three years later the Castle Inn was built. The east wing is today a private residence, while the rest of the castle is used for cultural events. At the referendum in 1920 about Slesvig and Sønderjylland’s affiliation to Danmark, there were no German votes at the polling place in Gram.
The Castle’s breeding farm Gramgård is today partly run as a hotel and restaurant in collaboration with Rema-1000 (a retail chain) and partly as organic farming together with Nybølgård. Gram estate was the first place in the country where a system of loose-housing (cattle yard) was established. In 2024, up to 95% of Danish dairy cows will be in loose-housing yards. The Holstein barn (Dutch stackyard) from the 17th century has been re-established and furnished for concerts, conferences and other major events.
The capital city København
København has no high-rise buildings in the inner city, apart from the SAS hotel, which can be seen at right. From the left you can see the square tower of the cathedral, Our Lady’s church. Then follows the tower on Købnhavn’s town hall and a smaller tower on the Palace hotel and St. Peter’s church tower. The small tower with a green copper roof in the background is currently unidentified.
In 1749, the foundation stone for Frederik’s Church was laid, but the expensive construction was put on hold for financial reasons in 1770, and the church was only inaugurated in August 1894, now known as Marmorkirken (the Marble Church). In the meantime, there were proposals to use the building among other as a concert hall or a gas tank! Cruise ships in København’s harbour are seen in the backgound.
At the front is the tower of Nikolaj church from the 13th century. However, the tower was not built until 1591. From 1981 København’s municipality organized exhibitions in the building, and from 2011 it is called the Nikolaj Kunsthal (art exhibition). At the back is the gilded spiral tower of the Church of Our Saviour, which was inaugurated in 1752. The tower is 90 m high with 400 steps to the top, of which the last 150 are external. In the background is the Øresund Bridge to Sweden.
Rundetårn was built at the request of Christian IV and was completed in 1642 as a tower for observing the starry sky. The total height is 42.55 m, i.e. it can easily stand inside the 79 m high Marble Church. The tower is located as an extension to Trinitatis church, but has never functioned as a church tower. You get up into the tower via a spiral corridor paved with cobblestones. This meant, among other things, that Tsar Peter the Great of Russia in 1716 could ride up the tower and the Tsarina could ride up in a carriage. The tower is located in Købmagergade, which is now a pedestrian street.
Børsen (The stock exchange) is another of Christian IV’s building projects. Construction started in 1619, but was not fully completed until 1624. It is a commercial building in an elegant Dutch Renaissance style. The current appearance is from 1883. The spire was rebuilt in 1775 and, like the old one, consists of the twisted tails of four dragons, hence the name Dragespiret. Half of the building including the spire burned 15/4 2024 but it will be rebuild once again. At left can be seen one of the city’s canals with tourist traffic.
Rosenborg Castle in Kongens Have (the King’s Garden) is also the work of Christian IV. Construction began in 1605 and was completed in 1633 in Renaissance style, and it became the king’s favorite castle. Today it is a cultural history museum, and the crown jewels are stored here.
Christiansborg Castle is a three-winged castle with annexes surrounded by a canal from the Port of København. The first castle was built in 1167 by Bishop Absalon. There are ruins of Absalon’s Castle below Christiansborg castle. Construction of the first Christinasborg began in 1731, but the castle burned down twice, and the current castle was only completed in 1928, although the tiled roof was replaced with copper in 1937. The castle today houses the Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Supreme Court, while part of the castle holds royal representation rooms.
The Gefion fountain by the sculptor Anders Bundgård has been newly renovated and illustrates the legend of the Swedish king Gylfe, who gave the goddess Gefion as much land as she could plow up in 24 hours with four oxen. Gefion had four sons with a giant, and she turned them into oxen and plowed up as much land as equal to Sjælland, while it left a hole in Sweden equal to Lake Vänern. The fountain is located at the 5-star shaped fort Kastellet and 400 m from the famous Little Mermaid.
The Botanical garden must be highlighted for its beautiful rock garden and the large Palm House with many exotic plants. The area of the garden has been reduced somewhat to make room for a new joint Natural History Museum, which is expected to open in 2025-26. In the picture, above the middle at right, the arched roof of a new large whale hall can be seen.
Pictures from the rock garden, a red squirrel, and the lake in Københavns Botanical Garden.
The amusement park Tivoli attracts many people. At left the main street decorated with Vanda orchids during a flower festival in September. At right the concert hall is seen.
At left the ferry inn at Lake Tivoli and at right the Chinese tower and a loop in the slide.
Christianshavn’s Canal.
Nyhavn with numerous restaurants.
Museums
There are many other important museums in the country than the ones mentioned in København. Just north of the capital lies the Frilandsmuseum (part of the National Museum), where there are more than 100 houses, farms and mills worth preserving that have been moved from their original location and rebuilt at the museum. Above you can see a bit of the four-vinged manor Fjellerup Østergård from Djursland, which was moved to the museum between 1952 and 1998. The oldest building is from 1400. – The Jutlandian work horse with the bright socks is a solid horse with great pulling power. It is believed to be descended from a small horse in the bronze age and has been close to extinction, but breeding work has saved it, and it can also be seen in the capital pulling beer carriage.
Many of the Frilandsmuseet’s old houses and farms are built with half-timbering and thatched roofs. At left is it a farm that originates from True near Århus and at right it is an old forge from 1847 in Ørbæk on Fyn, where e.g. the horse could be shoeed. In the middle is a marsh farm from Ejdersted in Sydslesvig. It was built on a wharf in 1653 and is notable for its high roof construction. At the Frilandsmuseet, the farm also stands on an elevation surrounded by drainage channels.
Dethsgård from Bangsbo on Læsø in the Kattegat was probably built in 1736. The roof consists of Eel-grass (Zostera marina), a roof covering that has been commonly used on Læsø for a long time. Such a roof can weigh several tons. Note the well with a counterpoised sweep and the stump mill.
The Viking Ship Museum at Roskilde Fjord is an archaeological museum with a focus on sailing in ancient times and the Middle Ages. The museum is based on 5 ships that were all found deliberately sunk with large stones in the cargo in the navigable Peberrende at Skuldelev in the Roskilde fjord. The decommissioned ships have functioned as a defense to block the fjord and protect the royal city of Roskilde. The museum is also responsible for the reconstruction of Viking ships using the same method as the old ships, and the models are used for tourist sailing tours on Roskilde Fjord. A new museum hall is now being built, as the old one is too exposed to storm surges. The picture at left shows ‘Havhingsten’ (Sea-stallion).
The ship at left is a 30 m long and 3.8 m wide warship that was built in Dublin approx. year 1042. It has been able to sail with up to 70 men and do 15 knots. The Sea Stallion is a reconstruction of this ship. The other smaller ships have primarily been merchant and transport ships. Two of them are built in Denmark and the other two are built in Sognefjord in Norway.
Moesgård is an excellent archaeological museum that grows out of the landscape south of Aarhus. Every year, a Viking meeting is held at the museum, where daily life and combat behavior are illustrated.
Weapon offerings from the Iron Age found in a lake in Illerup Ådal in Jylland. Between the years 200 and 475, at least 30 weapon sacrifices were made, where the weapons of defeated armies were sacrificed in sacred lakes and marshes. People were also sacrificed and the Grauballemanden at Moesgård is the world’s best-preserved bog-corpse.
The 69 cm wide silver vessel was found in a bog near Gundestrup in Himmerland. It is built around the year 0 and is richly decorated with religious and mythical motifs both inside and outside. The original is in the National Museum, so the vessel shown is a copy.
The Skagen Art Museum has a large collection of paintings by especially well-known Skagen painters such as Anna and Michael Ancher, Marie and P.S. Krøyer, Laurits Tuxen, Viggo Johansen and Holger Drachmann, but there are also paintings by e.g. Claude Monet (right). Anna Ancher’s house can be seen at left.
Examples of paintings by P. S. Krøyer at Skagen’s Art Museum. At left Summer evening on Skagen Sønderstrand 1893. In the middle Saint Hans’ evening and at right fishermen haul seine on Skagen’s North Beach.
In Kerteminde on Fyn, the Johannes Larsen Museum is located next to a beautifully preserved mill. The couple’s large residence is now an art museum. Johannes Larsen often used birds as motifs. There is a similar, but better picture of Common shelducks at the Nordisk Kollegium in København. There are many other art museums around the country.
Dybbøl Banke is a history center that tells about Denmark’s battles in 1864 against the Austrians and Prussians which outnumbered the Danes and were superior in terms of weapons. The Danes had to withdraw early from the Dannevirke defense in Slesvig, and the fiercest fightings then took place at Dybbøl, where a restored fortification can be seen above. Dybbøl Mill is a national symbol that was sunk twice by cannon fire during the war against Prussia. Denmark lost Slesvig and Sønderjylland up to Kongeåen, but got Sønderjylland back after a referendum in 1920.
There are many other interesting landscapes, castles, churches, museums and amusement parks in Denmark, but the page is already too long, so I will just mention a few: Statens museum of Art, Thorvaldsens Museum, New Carlsberg Glyptoteket, the National Museum, Den Blå Planet (aquarium) in København, Louisiana Art Museum in North Sjælland, H C Andersen Museum in Odense, Roskilde Cathedral, The Old Town in Aarhus, Randers Rain Forest, Legoland and various water parks.
H. S. Heide-Jørgensen, July 2024