Guideservice on Bornholm

Bornholm once had its own defense force: Bornholm Militia. It was only late in history that Danish troops took over their role.

Hasle Fælled and the area south of Hasle offers excellent examples of how training and military practice took place; however, other historical events have equally left their mark on the place.

There are a number of fascinating sights, which I will explain about when we see them.

Lots of traces in this area tell its stories of what it was in the past and what it has become today. 

A Guided Tour: Hammershus, the Round Churches of Bornholm and the Baltic Crusades

Your journey begins at the north tip of Bornholm, where the dramatic granite cliffs of Hammerknuden plunge into the Baltic. Rising from this headland are the ruins of Hammershus, the largest castle ruin in northern Europe and one of Scandinavia's most commanding medieval fortifications.

Construction began around 1160, initiated by Denmark’s king Valdemar I, who needed a stronghold for his crusades in order to muster troops and gather supplies. From the castle ruins, you can look out over the Baltic: on a clear day you can see the Swedish coast. Hammershus was built to see and be seen – a statement of power in a sea contested by the Hanseatic League, Wendish tribes to the south and the crusading orders further east.

As you explore the castle ruins – from the 14th century bridge to the inner tower keep, foundations of great hall and church and cannon emplacements overlooking the Baltic Sea, your guide explains the 800-year-old history of Hammershus – from impregnable medieval fortress to national historic monument. In 1658, when Bornholm was occupied by Swedish troops during the Dano-Swedish War, the people of Bornholm rose in revolt and killed the Swedish commandant, handing the island back to the Danish king. The island has remained part of Denmark ever since. It was decommissioned as a fortress in 1743 and systematically quarried for building stone. It became Denmark’s first national historic monument in 1822.

Round Churches: Fortresses of the Faith

From Hammershus, you travel southeast across Bornholm’s granite countryside to encounter something unique in all of Scandinavia: four medieval round churches, built in the 12th and 13th century and unlike anything else in Denmark.

Round Church of Østerlars

The largest and most dramatic of the four round churches, Østerlars dates to around 1200. Its massive whitewashed cylindrical tower – three storeys high – was built simultaneously as a place of worship, a mustering point and storage facility. Inside, your guide draws your attention to the frescoes that still glow faintly on the plaster – depicting the Last Judgment and scenes from the Bible for an illiterate medieval congregation.

Round churches of Nylars, Olsker & Nyker

The other three round churches each have their own character. Nylars retains some of the finest Romanesque frescoes on the island, depicting the Creation. Olsker is the tallest and most slender – almost tower-like. Nyker is the smallest and most intimate.

Why round?

Here your guide pauses for the central historical question. Why did Bornholm's medieval builders choose this unusual form? Several theories converge:

Crusading inspiration: the round form echoes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem – a shape adopted across Europe for exactly this symbolic reason.

Practical strength: the circular design is structurally superior for withstanding attack.

The Baltic Crusades: The Wider World These Stones Remember

This brings your guide to the broader historical canvas. The round churches and Hammershus were not built in isolation – they were products of a violent, expansionary age known as the Northern Crusades (roughly 1147-1410).

While crusaders marched to Jerusalem, a parallel holy war was being waged on the Baltic's eastern and southern shores. Danish kings, Swedish lords, German bishops, and crusading military orders – above all the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Brothers of the Sword – pushed into pagan Prussia, Livonia (modern Latvia and Estonia), Lithuania, and Finland, converting or conquering as they went.

Bornholm’s role was both strategic and symbolic. As a mid-Baltic island, it sat on the trade and military routes connecting Novgorod, the Hanseatic League states and the crusading heartlands of modern-day northern Germany and Poland with the conquest frontiers in Livonia and Estonia. Danish kings used the island as a staging point and supply base.

Bringing It Together: A Medieval Island at the Centre of a Crusading World

As your tour ends, perhaps watching the sunset over the Baltic from Hammershus, your guide offers a final reflection. Bornholm is often seen today as a peaceful summer idyll – herrings and smokeries and bicycle paths. But its stones tell a different story. The round church builders, Hammershus, the trade routes threading past this granite rock – all connect this small island to one of the most dramatic episodes of medieval European history: the Christianisation of the Baltic world by sword, cross, and castle.

Practical notes for visitors: Hammershus is freely accessible year-round, but requires good physical motility and suitable walking shoes. Østerlars and the other round churches are open to visitors from spring through autumn, with small admission fees.

Starting from Rønne, a guided tour on the southern part of Bornholm offers beautiful nature and several sights to visit along the way.I guide your tour to Arnager Klak with the very special green sand and clay which you aught see that.From here we drive to the geographical border zone at Klintebakken at Åkirkeby, where we visit Bornholm's branch of Lund Cathedral, the church Åkirke in Åkirkeby. I'll give you the story about the church.

The tour goes on to the Echo Valley, where we shall have a go at testing the echo. In good weather we also visit Kongemindet the highest place of Bornholm's forest Almindingen, where I tell the story of Kongemindet.Bornholm also has a bison forest which I will show you and where we might be lucky to encounter the European bison, which has been very close to extinction.In Southeast Bornholm we visit the ring castle at Rispebjerg, the geographical hub of Øster Sømarken, from which the precise time named Gudhjem Time is calculated.
Finally we go to Dueodde with the fine sand, installations from World War II and more Cold War installations and from Dueodde the tour goes to Snogebæk, Balka and Nexø back to Rønne.A lovely day in the southern part of Bornholm with interesting places that I look forward to showing you.