European Adventures - 23. Aarhus - Den Gamble By and Moesgaard Museum

23. Aarhus - Den Gamble By and Moesgaard Museum

Breakfast was not included in the Hotel price, something I don’t like but must have overlooked when I booked this hotel. Ah, there are shops across the street, no biggie; we went to McD…yep, why not…we sure ate enough on our trip.

A Street of Workshops Rented to Tradesmen

It was cumbersome to take a few buses from our hotel to the museum so we decided to use our car, it worked out ok, we used the parking wheel, we made sure we parked properly, etc.  It still is a bit of a guessing game, can we park here or not, but in Denmark it seems a lot easier to park.

Candle Maker Shop

Our morning exploration was of an open air museum called ‘Den Gamble By’ that has been in operation since 1914. It is a good museum. We were there when the place opened up for the day and spent a good 3 hours walking through the, mostly oldest section, of the exhibition; the section covering the years 1550 to 1864.

Glass Maker

They have other sections from between 1864 to1927 and then from 1927 to 1974 but those were not as interesting to me. There are some staff members of

Preacher But No Church Here Yet

the museum who walk around in period regalia. We met the town’s pastor and had our lunch in the town bakery. All the shops were open and we were free to explore nooks and crannies. Horse and carriages made their rounds, a man was playing his musical instrument, and another few apprentices were just running through the streets, looking busy.

Accordion Player by the River's Edge

Girls Doing the Wash

Young Girl Eating Porridge That the Woman at the Stove Has Cooked

A rather large group of high school youngsters, in period dress, had chores to do. The boys were chopping wood, sweeping the streets with a whisk broom, collecting kindling or stacking wood. 

Bakery

Some girls were doing the wash by hand in the outside mews; some were inside cooking the mid-day meal on a working wood stove. Visitors like us were given stew for lunch, Carol had some and said it was very good, but the young adults only received porridge for their meal. In their role play, they were all orphans and to recreate the true conditions at the time; porridge was what orphans received, while the Gentry had stew. I hope those students learned something from that.

Since we had squandered our money on the cookies we ate, we had had our lunch and Carol in addition had her stew… so no lunch. 

Entrance to the Moesgaard Museum

After all this walking we were glad to be sitting in the car but we were not done with Aarhus. In Aarhus there is one of the best, modern museums for the Viking age. But better for me was the view this museum offered between the Stone and Bronze Ages. The museum is named Moesgaard, and it’s simply fantastic.

The landscape around the museum contains recreational ‘buildings’ we did not even have time to visit. It would take a week to see it all. 

I came to see the ‘Grauballeman’, a mummified man found in a bog. He was a sacrifice to the gods long ago. 

 

Grauballeman 

Face of the Bogman

We could not get a really good picture of this mummy from around 300 BC, so I stole this picture from the Museum website. The Bogman died when his throat was slashed at about 30 years of age.

But when I entered the museum there was so much more to see, it boggled my mind. What Carol and I liked the most were the statues on the staircase; Life-like representations of ‘people’ throughout Earth’s history. It is a progression of development from Lucy to the present Homo Sapiens. Just fascinating!

Tiny, Life-Sized Lucy at the Top of the Staircase

Lucy (40% of her skeletal structure) was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia. Lucy was 1.1 m (3 ft. 7 in.) tall, weighed 29 kg (64 lb.) and after reconstruction looked somewhat like a chimpanzee. The creature had a small brain like a chimpanzee, but the pelvis and leg bones were almost identical in function to those of modern humans, showing with certainty that Lucy's species were hominids who stood upright and walked erect. Her remains were dated to 3.5 million years ago, making her one of the earliest pre-human hominid found.

The museum had excellent sections, dealing with life as it was during the Stone Age (12,500 to 7000 BC) and the explanation of how those people wandered north and settled down and established themselves in today’s Denmark, after the

Masks

last Ice age receded. The exhibits followed the Iron Age up to the Bronze Age (1700 to 500 BC). And then concentrated more on the regional development of Denmark between the years 500 BC to 800 AD.

It was fantastic; we spent most of our time in this section. 

This museum concentrates on the ‘belief’ system the people had at that time, too. The Gods they prayed to, the mystery of death, the sacrifices those people offered to appease those who caused them grief. It was a really, really different world then.

The Gundestup

And if that was not enough, then there was the Gundestup, a large cauldron found in Denmark. Lots of stories circulate as to why this ‘cup’ was so large. It was not really a cup and what was found was really incomplete so we don’t know for sure but here is one story I liked.

Before battle, the shaman would brew a concoction and then pour it into this bowl. The warriors would ‘drink’ from this elixir, touch the cup so to speak and then go out and fight. I bet there was more than just beer in the brew of the shaman. The fighters who drank from this cup felt no pain it was said.

Inside Gundestup at the Bottom

Well, we just touched the cauldron, we never drank from it, but I love this story.

We also just touched upon the town of Aarhus and the museums; we never really drank the local beer, ate the local food or walked the local streets.

The exhibit of the dead reminded me what I have seen in Mexico.

The time from 1050 to 1536 is a blur to me now. I cannot recall this exhibit.

The ‘Black Death’ that arose in 1350 alone would need weeks to explore. 

There is so much more one can do especially at the Moesguaard.  But we wanted to see the roof of this building, too.

We took the elevator up to the roof, the view was astounding. This building in itself was an exhibit, not just what was in it. Built in 1970, the museum building was planned well and it is a one of a kind place.

The Museum From the Same Side as the Entrance

Standing at the top of this slant you can see the Sea.

We drove back to the hotel, very impressed. We were so tired however, we did not even go for dinner, I just bought a sandwich across the street and we ate in the room.  

 Good Night!