Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the decidedly non-wireless connection between the Danish and Norwegian
peoples.)
Harald was a shrewd politician who had practical reasons for being bap-
tized. He knew that if he declared Denmark to be a Christian land, he could
saveitfrompossibleattack bythepredatoryGermanbishopstothesouth.The
inscription reads:
“King Harald ordered this monument made in memory of
Gorm, his father, and in memory of Thyra, his mother; that Harald who won
for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian.”
This large stone has three sides. One side reveals an image of Jesus and a
cross, while the other has a serpent wrapped around a lion. This is important
imagery that speaks to the transition from Nordic paganism to Christianity.
These designs carved into the rock were once brightly painted.
• Go around the back of the church and climb the steps to the 35-foot-high,
grass-covered...
North Mound:
According to tradition, Gorm was buried in a chamber
inside this mound, with his queen Thyra interred in the smaller mound to
the south. But excavations in the 1940s turned up no royal remains in either
mound. (In the 1970s, what is believed to be Gorm's body was discovered be-
low the church.) Scan the horizon and mentally remove the trees. Imagine the
