Museums, Manor Houses, Castles or Churches

Roskilde Cathedral was originally built of wood by Harald Bluetooth around 980. The current building is from the 13th century. The church is the funeral church of the Danish kings and queens, although the tradition was only seriously cemented with Queen Margaret I, who died in 1412.

Probably right where the towers stand today, Harold Bluetooth's grandson, Canute the Great of England, Denmark and Norway, sat playing the fatal game of chess with Wolf Earl. According to legend, Wolf was killed in front of the alter the next day.

Around 1450 Christian I built the Chapel of the Holy Three Kings and in 1620 Christian IV completed his chapel on the north side. Frederik V's chapel was built in the late 18th century, and the Glückborg Chapel in the 1920s.

The guided tour is a time travel that begins with Harald Bluetooth's life and ends with today's Queen Margaret II, a fascinating marathon through the history of the church, the kings and queens, and to a certain extent Denmark. There is so much breath of history that the experience will follow you for some time after.

Visit the oldest building in Aarhus dating back to 1200 AD. Hear why such a large cathedral was built in the middle ages in a small town of only around 1500 inhabitants.

Aarhus Cathedral is the biggest church in Denmark and also the one with the most frescoes that each and every one tells an interesting story.   

Brick was a new material at that time and the 11 million bricks used in building the cathedral in Aarhus were handmade and produced just around the corner.

The Cathedral holds many interesting tales about people, memorial plaques, frescoes and other features. I shall also tell you about the guard in the cathedral tower, who keept watch in case of fire in the small town. Further more the church was a favorite place for burials, and approximately 2,000 souls are buried here.

There is a rather interesting story about the Bishop Jens Iversen Lange, who made sure you will remember him, by putting his personal seal on everything inside the church, including the church tower itself. I'll show you.

Hear about the baptisms in the early days of the church, how the priest sometimes had to brake down the ice to immerse the babies or why a model of a war ship intended for the Russian Zar ended up in a church in Aarhus.       

We guide when there are no church services and only during the church's opening hours – usually at 9:30-16. On Tuesdays, however, only from 10:30.

The Old Town Museum in Aarhus is the world's first open-air museum for the culture and history of market towns, and first opened its doors in 1909.

Today the museum is visited by more than 350,000 guests a year, and has been rewarded the maximum 3 stars by the world-famous Guide Michelin.

The museum houses 75 houses from different areas in Denmark, and walking around the Old Town Museum is like jumping into the time machine and experiencing life as it was in a typical Danish city from the 16th to the 20th century, complete with shops, horse drawn carriages and people dressed as they would have at the time of Hans Christian Andersen the famous Danish fairytale writer.

I invite you inside many of the historic buildings, including the building that used to be opposite Hans Christian Andersen's childhood home in Odense, which was where he was first introduced to the wonderful world of books. I shall also show you the 17th-century pharmacy packed with mysterious medicines and the associated Baroque pharmacy gardens with about 100 different herbs.

Are you more interested in recent history and do you remember Bob Dylan, the hippies and your first television? Then you can also experience the year 1974 which is now part of the Old Town Museum. In this part of the museum I can walk you down the avenue of memories, where we stop at the sausage trolley, flatten our noses at window at Poul's Radio or visit the collective.

Whether you are fascinated by old or recent history it is also a good idea to set aside time to enjoy some traditional Danish cakes from The Old Town Bakery as well as a cup of tea or coffee after the tour.

Experience one of the most beautiful buildings in Odense from the inside, which means the City Hall of Odense, situated beautifully opposite the cathedral. During the tour I will introduce you to rooms which are usually not open to the public.

When you experience the building from the inside you will see impressive architechture from the past as well as today and a perfect match of colours. You will see a magnificent painting Fynsk Forår, Spring of Funen, by Yann Kai Nielsen, the wedding room and the memory wall with good stories from the past and the present. The city counsel room and an anteroom with portraits of previous mayors by some of the best painters in Denmark are also on our list.

In the grand hall we find impressive frescoes by the Funen painter Johannes Larsen and I will explain about Hans Christian Andersen who was appointed honorary citizen of Odense exactly here in 1869 – in the old city hall used before the present one was built! As a must the tour also allows you a view of the Queen's State Rooms for when she visits Odense – only when the Queen is not present of course.

The City Hall is an old building with stairs but also lifts. We do guided tours during normal working hours of City Hall only. If you want an exclusive tour outside normal working hours there will be an extra fee for security.