Aarhus and Jelling

Friday, September 16 

Aarhus may be Denmark’s second city, but it has its own charms.  The massive cathedral, in the town center has Denmark’s longest nave and soaring Gothic arches.  Pre-Reformation, the interior was richly frescoed, but its adornments were whitewashed in the fervor to erase all traces of anything “too Catholic”; many have now been restored.  

While walking behind the altar toward the apse, we began to hear soft, feminine voices singing and soon we saw several strollers lined up along a wall.  As we reached the apse, we found a small group of young mothers (and a grandmother) with their infants.  With the leadership of another young woman, they were singing quiet hymns, gesturing fluidly over their babies, who were cooing and smiling contentedly up at them as they lay on their quilts.  We later learned that it’s called babysalmesang or “baby hymns”, and it’s offered elsewhere as well. It was lovely – balm for babies – and their mothers, too, I’m sure.

Speaking of babies, as we were walking through the pedestrian center of Aahus, we noticed something we’d read about, but didn’t really believe.  We saw a baby in a pram, parked outside a small store, while his mother shopped inside; Danes score VERY high on their levels of trust in their fellow man!!

We walked on to the Church of Our Lady, built over the site of the original cathedral, whose crypt, dating from the 11^th century, was small, dark and candlelit. The crypt is the oldest stone church still existing in Scandinavia. The church cloister also gave entry to an abbey church, now used as a chapel for residents of the adjoining home for the elderly.

After a walk along Mollestein, a pretty cobbled street of small old houses right in the middle of Aarhus, we crossed the narrow canal that winds through the city center to reach the Art Museum of Aarhus, known as ARoS.

ARoS makes a visual impression well before any of its artwork is in view.  The top (tenth) level of the museum is a 360 degree rooftop walkway.  Titled Your Rainbow Panorama, it’s a transparent ring, shaded in hues of the rainbow, offering views over the city.  Inside, the museum is somewhat reminiscent of the (original) Guggenheim Museum, with a gently sloping staircase winding down through the center of the building. Descending, the galleries at each level present a chronologically arranged capsule summary of Danish art.  The levels of the building are also meant to be an architectural representation of Dante’s Divine Comedy, with heaven represented by the rooftop’s rainbow halo and the bottom level’s Nine Spaces painted black and dedicated to several unusual installations.

We walked along the canal to the cathedral square and stopped to see the Viking Museum, housed underground in a space excavated during the construction of a bank building.  Aahus was originally a walled Viking settlement and the artifacts unearthed provided a  telling look at life there 1000 years ago.

En route back to our apartment in Fredericia, we stopped at Jelling, the royal seat during the Viking era and the birthplace of Christianity in Denmark. The monumental site consists of several elements: a simple white church dating from the 12^th century, surrounded by the loveliest cemetery we’ve ever seen; two massive burial mounds; and two rune stones, King Grom’s  bearing the first inscription of the word “Denmark,” the other, his son King Harald Bluetooth’s declaration of Christianity as the religion of the Danes in the year 965.  This is an important place, culturally, religiously, and historically, for the Danish people and the entire site is beautifully maintained and presented.  The original wooden palisade encircling the city is now represented by white posts and the outline of the ship that Norsemen believed would transport them after death to be with their gods in Valhalla is traced with white concrete tiles.  A new museum and visitors’ center is extraordinarily well done, with interactive exhibits that are entertaining, engaging, and educational-in English as well as in Danish. All in all, this is a don’t-miss spot.

We covered a lot of chronological territory today -- from the Vikings right up to avant garde artists – and still made it home in time for happy hour!