Silkeborg's historical gems

Silkeborg's historical gems

A lovely and history-packed riverside city walk in Silkeborg, in the heart of the Danish Lakelands, combined with a fascinating face-to-face encounter with the Tollund Man at the historical museum.

This city walk takes us first to a footbridge over the Gudenå river only a few minutes' walk from Silkeborg's train and bus station which provides a great overlook over town, river and forest.

We then cross the Gudenå and take a scenic footpath alongside this charming river, which is also the longest in Denmark. The river's name actually means "Divine River" for other, older and darker reasons, though; we might find out about them later!

This nice stroll gets us to the river lock, and we walk through the old Paper Mill, many of whose original buildings still stand. It was founded in the 1840s, when Silkeborg was yet a young and small village. At the time it was one of the best paper factories in the world - maybe because it was powered by the waters of the Divine River! It now harbours the theatre, a hotel, trendy riverfront cafés and restaurants, and its own museum.

Back to the river, which we find to have now become a long, lovely lake, we reach Silkeborg Castle... Or rather, a beautiful, secluded, green promontory, on which can still be seen the vestiges and foundations of the long-vanished medieval castle. Here I tell you about the history and legends attached to it, while we walk around the stones and enjoy the views of Langsø the Long Lake of Silkeborg.

From there we loop back towards the town centre, and soon arrive at a major highlight of this tour: the historical museum.

Few historical museums embody the twisting continuities, breaks and mysteries of time as strikingly as Museum Silkeborg, known as Hovedgården, "the Manor". Built as a manor in 1767, it is the oldest and perhaps prettiest building in town. Actually, it is older than the town itself; it was in fact the ruins of the castle that provided much of the stone for its construction.

I have in fact worked in the museum in 2015, creating a database of the finds and collections, so it will be a pleasure for me to show you around their splendid exhibitions: on Silkeborg Castle (incl. a reconstruction), the beautiful Sorring ceramic, rich and impressive finds from the Iron Age and Viking Age. But the most extraordinary treasure is Tollund Man, by far the best-known - indeed world-famous-person that has ever lived in the area, an astonishingly well-preserved sacrificial "bog body" on display. To see his face from up close is quite a moving and thought-provoking experience.

But we should not overlook another body also found in an acid peat bog: Elling Woman, showing off her Iron Age hair style.