Vikingemuseet Ladby


Vikingemuseet Ladby, 6km southwest of Kerteminde, preserves the site of the only known Viking-era ship grave in Denmark. The key site is hidden within a grassy burial mound. Press a knob and electronic doors swing open, allowing you to enter a spooky chamber. Here, complete with bones of 11 sacrificed cattle, the ship's ghostly remnants are preserved in a low-lit, airtight display. Outside, a lawn leads 100m down to the fjordside where a sea-worthy reconstruction of the boat is moored.

But before walking 300m to reach the mound, peruse the child-friendly museum, which shows some discovered grave goods and tries to imagine the context of the era (AD 900 to 930). On Wednesdays, local women embroider a Bayeux-inspired Ladby Tapestry. In the basement, there's a reconstructed mock-up of the boat before it was interred. Above that, on the hour and half hour, a wordless, impressionistic six-minute cartoon-video plays out.

The museum is 1.2km north of Ladby village, to which bus 482 (24kr, six minutes) runs from Kerteminde five times on school days only: it's better to cycle. Many visitors bring a picnic to enjoy on the waterside lawns.


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