Throughout its early history, Denmark had many contacts with the outside world, but with the beginning of the Viking Age, c. 750 AD, the country really became part of European history. The Danes became most notorious as the Vikings who plundered churches and monasteries, but behind this rather one-sided picture there lies a far more complex interplay of political and cultural factors.
The Jelling Stone
The huge Jelling Stone is sometimes referred to as Denmark's birth certificate. Harald Bluetooth (d. 987) had a runic inscription carved into the side of the stone in memory of the fact that he ’made the Danes Christians’.
The Vikings, who dominated Scandinavia from the 700s until 1042, were the forebears of the robust, hard-working, seafaring nation of Denmark. If you want to learn about Denmark, visiting its Viking sites is a good way to start.
Fyrkat, North Jutland
Sometime around the year 980, the Danish Viking king Harald Bluetooth built a large Viking ring fortress at Fyrkat in North Jutland. (A similar fortress was built at Trelleborg on Sealand, see below.) The perfectly circular fortress originally included 16 buildings. This oak house from the fortress was reconstructed by hand using Viking carpentry techniques and tools. There's also a reconstructed working Viking farmstead on the site.
Lindholm Høje, North Jutland
On this peaceful hillside is the largest Viking burial ground in Scandinavia. Almost 700 graves have been found here, some dating back as far as the 5th century. There's also a museum with Viking artifacts on the site.
Burial site and habitation centre from Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age (4th-11th centuries). 682 graves, 150 ship settings (graves).
In the 1950s, the museum excavated several dwellings and burial sites from the Iron Age and Viking era, located at Lindholm Høje, just north of Aalborg in Nørresundby. Many of the discoveries are presented in the museum’s unusual exhibits. Today, Lindholm Høje is recognised as Scandinavia’s largest Viking burial ground with more than 700 graves.