The Old Town, Aarhus
Encyclopedia
Aarhus
Aarhus or Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, is an open-air village museum consisting of 75 historical buildings collected from 20 townships in all parts of the country. In 1914 the museum opened for the first time as the world's first open-air museum of its kind and to this day it remains one of just a few top rated Danish museums outside Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
serving some 3.5 million visitors pr. year.
The museum buildings are organized into a small village of chiefly half-timbered structures originally erected between 1550 and the late 19th century in various parts of the country and later moved to Aarhus during the 20th century. In all there are some 27 rooms, chambers or kitchens, 34 workshops, 10 groceries or shops, 5 historical gardens, a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, a customs office, a school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
and a theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
.
The village itself is the main attraction but most buildings are open for visitors; rooms are either decorated in the original historical style or organized into larger exhibits of which there are 5 regular with varying themes. There are several groceries, diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...
s and workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s spread throughout the village with museum staff working in the roles of typical village figures i.e. merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
, blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
etc. adding to the illusion of a "living" village.
History
The Old Town premiered for an audience in 1914 under the name "The Old Mayor's House". Apart from the renaissanceRenaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
styled Mayor's House there were a small garden pavilion and another large renaissance styled house all from the city of Aarhus. Over the course of the following half a century the museum was slowly expanded as more buildings and collections from various parts of the country were donated.
Peter Holm
Peter Holm is a former pop singer and Swedish playboy who was married to actress Joan Collins between 1985-1986...
(1873–1950), a local teacher and translator, managed to have the estate disassembled for later use rather than destroyed. The mansion was moved and reassembled and one year later it was displayed at the Danish National Exhibit of 1909 held in Aarhus where it was the centrepiece of historical exhibits. The building was moved again 5 years later in 1914 when the museum officially opened as "The Old Mayor's House" with Peter Holm as director.
Almost 15 years later in 1923 Aquira Young was notified by the National Museum
National Museum of Denmark
The National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen is Denmark’s largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main domicile is located a short distance from Strøget at the center of Copenhagen. It contains exhibits from around the world,...
that a large merchant mansion in Aalborg
Aalborg
-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....
was to be demolished. Peter Holm managed to collect the necessary funds to have the large mansion consisting of 8 individual buildings moved to Aarhus. The buildings were reassembled and in 1923, 3 years after the move, the museum opened 5 of the buildings for a public audience.
With the new additions The Old Mayor's House was no longer a local museum and the name was changed to "Township Museum The Old Town". In the following years the collection of buildings in the museum was expanded with structures from 20 different towns and cities. While the number of buildings expanded so did the collections within them. Large amounts of furniture, tools and other common interiors were donated and most buildings, groceries and workshops are today furnished and functional as they would have been at the time of their original construction. Specifically large collections of clothing, toys, pottery and silverware has either been donated to or bought by the museum and are today displayed in some of the larger buildings.
The name was changed again in 1995 to "The Old Town. Township Museum of Denmark."
Peter Holm
Peter Holm
Peter Holm is a former pop singer and Swedish playboy who was married to actress Joan Collins between 1985-1986...
remained director of the museum for 31 years from 1914 to 1945 when he resigned. During this period he managed to salvage some 50 historic buildings from demolition and raise the funds to have them moved to and erected in Aarhus; a unique and impressive feat in Danish museum history.
The Old Town has later inspired similar projects in other Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n cities. Both Bergen, Norway and Turku
Turku
Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
have subsequently erected similar open air museums.
Buildings
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
towns while another three are in storage awaiting later recoustruction. The oldest structure is a storage house from Aalborg from c. 1550 and the youngest is a garden pavilion from the 1909 Country Exhibit in Aarhus. The majority of the structures are from the mid 18th to early 19th centuries in typical half-timbered renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
style.
The largest and most impressive buildings are the Coin Master's Mansion from Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
(c. 1683), the Mayor's House from Aarhus (c. 1597), a merchant's house also from Århus (c. 1723) and the Aalborg Estate from Aalborg (c. 1570 and 1807). Many smaller buildings of diverse persuasions are scattered around the site, ranging from ordinary residences to a small dock for boat construction, a tobacco barn, several watermills and a windmill.
The most recent addition to the village was the half-timbered coin master's mansion. It was erected as a residence for the royal coin masters in Copenhagen by Gregorius Sessemann in c. 1683 and was used for this purpose until 1749. The Copenhagen City Museum disassembled the building in 1944 and in 1995 it was handed over to The Old Town which started construction of it in 1998 until it was finished in 2009. It was erected as it is believed it presented itself in 1750 and the interior will be furnished accordingly.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
half-timbered renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
buildings with many unique architectural
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
features. It was the first building in The Old Town and is still one of the central pieces in the village. The Mayor's House now contains a cavalcade of common city culture from 1600 to 1850. Original located at Lilletorv (Lesser square) at the corner of Vestergade and Immervad at the site of present day department store Magasin du Nord.
The merchant's mansion from Aarhus is the main parts of a large mansion originally at Brobjerg Port later named Frederiks Port, the city gate at the end of Frederiksgade. At the city boundary at the time, now opposite the present day city hall. The mansion was rebuilt in The Old Town in 1942. Facing the street there is a grocery, residential wing and large grain storage in the attic and the stable and garden are situated in the back. The merchant's mansion is now home to one of the regular exhibits in the museum, The Merchant Mansion of 1864.
The Aalborg Estate consists of five buildings, two from c. 1570, one from c. 1585, one from c. 1634 and one from c. 1807. The complex was part of the same merchant's estate in central Aalborg and was rebuilt in The Old Town in 1926 and 1934 and one building now doubles as a brewery.
Exhibits
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, and in some cases Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n, cities
The Toy Museum is situated in the large warehouse from Næstved and contains some 6000 pieces of toys from the 19th century to the 1960s. On the ground floor most boy's toys are displayed including German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Märklin
Märklin
Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Wurttemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accessories, today it is best known for model railways and technical toys...
cars and Bing trains, mechanical toys from Lehmann
Lehmann
Lehmann is a common Germanic surname derived from the German word Lehen, meaning fiefdom. Some Jewish Lehmann families state that the origin of their name is from the German words for "Lion Man"...
, Danish Tekno toys and a somewhat unique feature - wooden toys produced by inmates of Danish prisons.
The first floor focuses on the pedagogical
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
use of toys. In the 18th century childhood was increasingly recognized as a special period in a human's life whereas it had earlier perceived as a necessary and difficult period needed to be overcome on the path to becoming a "real" person. In the late 18th century philosophers
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s more and more viewed childhood as an important time where parents could influence the child in positive directions. To this end toys became an important tool. It was believed that by giving a child a specific toy it could be lead in a specific direction in later life i.e. influence girls to become good housewives and boys to an active, social existence bound for the commercial life of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Sun Dial
Sun Dial is a British space rock band formed in 1990 by Gary Ramon.-History:The precursor to Sun Dial was Ramon's the Modern Art, formed in the mid-'80s with a loose lineup that never played gigs but did see the release of two studio albums...
s and hour glass
Hour Glass
Hour Glass is the first regularly scheduled variety show shown on American network television. It ran on NBC from 9 May 1946 until March 1947.Hour Glass was sponsored by Standard Brands...
es to mechanical clocks. The earliest clocks from the 16th century had only one hand to show the hour of the day but later and more sophisticated clocks showed time in fractions of a second and the position of planets.
The textile museum is essentially spread out over the entire village. The exhibits aims at telling the story of the use of textiles in the home i.e. the introduction of curtains and sofa cushions. During the 19th century a tendency to hide furniture behind textiles erupted. Towels were hidden behind embroidered linen and the stove
Stove
A stove is an enclosed heated space. The term is commonly taken to mean an enclosed space in which fuel is burned to provide heating, either to heat the space in which the stove is situated or to heat the stove itself, and items placed on it...
was hidden behind an embroidered textile screen and in the 1890s the average home resembled a box excessively lined with coloured curtains, screens and linen. The functionalism
Functionalism (architecture)
Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...
of the 1920s was a rebellion against this tendency. The Mayor's House showcases the tendencies of 250 years of interior decoration.
The silverware exhibit details the development of design and fabrication in the silver industry of the 17th century from baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
to functionalism
Functionalism (architecture)
Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...
. The collection includes works of 310 smiths from 44 different cities and towns with works of Niels Christensen as the oldest (c. 1637) and Henning Koppel, a pupil of Georg Jensen
Georg Jensen
Georg Arthur Jensen was a Danish silversmith.Born in 1866, Jensen was the son of a knife grinder in the town of Raadvad just to the north of Copenhagen. Jensen began his training in goldsmithing at the age of 14 in Copenhagen...
, as the most recent (1918).
Gardens
Greenery
Greenery may refer to:* Any foliage of a plant, either live, freshly cut, or artificial. The term is used in the landscaping, interior design, and florist industries.* A houseplant used for its foliage.* A slang term for marijuana....
for commercial use.
The Pharmacy Garden c. 1750 is 300 m2. and has been constructed around a small house from the 1750s. The garden is designed in the baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style with 91 squares each containing one type of flowering plant all of which has been used for medical purposes in the mid 1750s including henbane
Henbane
Henbane , also known as stinking nightshade or black henbane, is a plant of the family Solanaceae that originated in Eurasia, though it is now globally distributed.-Toxicity and historical usage:...
, thorn apple
Datura stramonium
Datura stramonium, known by the common names Jimson weed, devil's trumpet, devil's weed, thorn apple, tolguacha, Jamestown weed, stinkweed, locoweed, datura, pricklyburr, devil's cucumber, Hell's Bells, moonflower and, in South Africa, malpitte and mad seeds, is a common weed in the...
, mistletoe
Mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.-Mistletoe in the genus Viscum:...
, hop
Hop (plant)
Humulus, Hop, is a small genus of flowering plants native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The female flowers of H. lupulus are known as hops, and are used as a culinary flavoring and stabilizer, especially in the brewing of beer...
, belladonna
Deadly nightshade
Atropa belladonna or Atropa bella-donna, commonly known as Belladonna, Devil's Berries, Death Cherries or Deadly Nightshade, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Solanaceae, native to Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. The foliage and berries are extremely toxic, containing tropane...
, blue anemones
Anemone
Anemone , is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones...
and anise
Anise
Anise , Pimpinella anisum, also called aniseed, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. Its flavor resembles that of liquorice, fennel, and tarragon.- Biology :...
ed.
Commercial Greenery Bernstoff is a greenery
Greenery
Greenery may refer to:* Any foliage of a plant, either live, freshly cut, or artificial. The term is used in the landscaping, interior design, and florist industries.* A houseplant used for its foliage.* A slang term for marijuana....
which grows flowers, plants and spices to be sold on the local village market. The large greenhouse from Bernstoff's Castle contains the exhibit "Great Grandmothers Plants" during the summer. The collection of pelargonium
Pelargonium
Pelargonium is a genus of flowering plants which includes about 200 species of perennials, succulents, and shrubs, commonly known as scented geraniums or storksbills. Confusingly, Geranium is the correct botanical name of a separate genus of related plants often called Cranesbills. Both Geranium...
is particularly large including 20-30 different species.
Ms. Wahlstrøm's garden of 1920 is a small garden and a part of the Lemvig House
Lemvig
Lemvig is a municipality in Region Midtjylland on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 510 km², and has a population of 22,067 . Its mayor is Erik Flyvholm, a member of the Venstre political party.The main town and the site of its municipal...
reconstructed in The Old Town in 1982. The house was originally used by a single woman who lived in the house and worked in the adjoining shop. The 700 m2 garden remains as it looked originally and is largely grass with a small corner used for growing herbs, salads etc. The garden is framed by European honeysuckle
European honeysuckle
Lonicera periclymenum, known as Common Honeysuckle, European Honeysuckle or Woodbine is a deciduous climber that grows up to 10 m high. It is native to much of Europe, growing as far north as southern Norway and Sweden; in Britain it is one of two native honeysuckles, the other being Fly Honeysuckle...
, lavender
Lavender
The lavenders are a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. An Old World genus, distributed from Macaronesia across Africa, the Mediterranean, South-West Asia, Arabia, Western Iran and South-East India...
, old rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
s species, common Lilac
Common Lilac
Syringa vulgaris is a species of Syringa in the olive family Oleaceae, native to the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe, where it grows on rocky hills.-Description:...
, lilies, summer flowers and fruit trees.
The residential garden of 1864 contains a functional kitchen garden and a typical garden for recreational purposes in the upper classes of the mid 19th century. The central part of the garden is composed of a large round section with columbine
Aquilegia
Aquilegia is a genus of about 60-70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals of their flowers.-Etymology:The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle , because...
, Larkspur
Larkspur
Larkspur may refer to:* Larkspur, California* Larkspur, Colorado* Larkspur radio system, used by the British Army* Delphinium, a genus of 300 flowers with widespread nativity* Consolida, a genus of 40 flowers native to central and western Eurasia...
, dianthus
Dianthus
Dianthus is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species extending south to north Africa, and one species in arctic North America. Common names include carnation , pink and sweet William Dianthus is a genus of...
and red valerian in addition to numerous other plants and flowers typical of this time. The kitchen garden is separated from the recreational garden and contains typical vegetables and herbs in addition to many lesser known plants not commonly used today.
The renaissance garden of 1647 is part of the Mayor's House created and was created on the basis of the book Horticultura Danica by Hans Rasmussen Block in 1647. It is a small garden measuring 6 by 7 metres surrounded by a red painted fence containing tulip
Tulip
The tulip is a perennial, bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa, which comprises 109 species and belongs to the family Liliaceae. The genus's native range extends from as far west as Southern Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran to the Northwest of China. The tulip's centre of...
s, snake's head and forget-me-not
Forget-me-not
Myosotis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae that are commonly called Forget-me-nots. Its common name was calqued from the French, "ne m'oubliez pas" and first used in English in c. 1532. Similar names and variations are found in many languages.-Description:There are...
s orchestrated in strong renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
style.