The
weather is still awful this morning – dull and damp, definitely a day for coats
and staying indoors where possible. Today’s destination is Jelling, less than a
quarter of an hour away. Jelling is very close to the hearts of the Danes, who
are extremely proud of their nation. It was, in the 10 century, the royal seat
of Gorm the Old, who created the Danish state by conquering its component
lands, and of Harald Bluetooth who adopted Christianity as the Danish religion
(although Christianity and paganism continued side-by-side for many years). Two
rune stones were placed here between two massive mounds, the first, by Gorm the
Old, has the first mention of Denmark as a state and the second, by Harald
Bluetooth, states that he converted the Danes to Christianity and has the first
known depiction of Christ in Denmark. Also between the two mounds and next to
the rune stones, is a church which dates to 1100 but at least three older
churches lie beneath it.
The
weather was not good so we started at the Kongernes Jelling, an exhibition
centre very close to the very convenient car park that we had parked in and
also opposite the church and mounds. As with all Danish museums, the
presentation of the history of the site was excellent with plenty of background
information and lots of interactive bit for children and over-grown children. One
particularly good interactive display allowed visitors to take a tour around
the larger of the two rune stones, the old commissioned by Harald Bluetooth.
The stone was originally painted in bright colours and this had been done on
the computer-enhanced image. The runes and other features were well explained
in English and the figure of Christ was very clear to see. There was also a
very interesting section about the excavations and investigations on the site.
These showed the uncovering of the stone outline of massive boat encompassing
both of the mounds and the church. In addition they also discovered an outer,
diamond-shaped palisade 3m high, centred on the northern mound and covering an
area of 20 football fields. This has now been marked out on the ground by metal
posts and enables visitors to appreciate the size of the site. From the roof of
the building, it is possible to view most of the site, although this would have
been much more fun if the weather had been better.
We
went back to Henrietta for lunch and then headed for the church and rune
stones. The weather had not improved and the outdoor areas were visited at
speed. The rune stones were very good, although the side of the stone with the
representation of Christ was very worn and it could have shown three bears
riding on a mini as far as I was concerned. I was even more appreciative of the
3-D graphics that had shown it in its painted glory.
We
got back to Kollerupland by 17:00 but the bad weather prevented us from further
investigating our environs.
Photos:
A particularly amusing interactive display (“touch anything orange and it will
interact”) showing five ways to kill a warrior e.g. touching the arrow on the
left informs us that the arrow had punctured the warrior’s artery and that he
would die from blood loss in 30 minutes – something that every child should
know!; Jane about to enter Valhalla; View from the museum roof with the church,
north mound and, in the distance far left, the white posts showing the position
of the palisade; The Harald Bluetooth rune stone, the side with the majority of
runes; The enhanced and painted view of the stone showing the Christ figure
engraving; View from the top of the north mound showing the outline of the
stone ship and the outer enclosure – the white rectangular areas show the
location of large buildings within the enclosure.
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