First published: 08/08/16.

Clyde 2.5

Jelling

Jelling (Inscribed)

Jelling by Clyde

I visited this WHS in July 2016. I drove from Christiansfeld and slept nearby in a small town close to Veyle. This turned out to be a wise decision. After a couple of narrow country roads with very slippery gravel on the sides, I managed to arrive safely in Jelling and I parked my car for free close to one of the mounds. From here I headed straight to Kongernes Jelling - Home of the Viking Kings Experience Centre as I knew it's only open till 5pm daily (except Wednesdays till 8pm). Its name truly lives up to any expectation - it will be an informative experience and will give you enough background information and context to better appreciate the runic stones and mounds. Moreover, the entrance is free so I'd recommend to start your visit here and then proceeding to the Jelling church and cemetery (open till 8pm). The rest is open 24/7 even though the runic stones are in glass enclosures. I spent an hour in the museum before heading outside to explore the site itself. Without the experience center I wouldn't have appreciated this WHS in the same way I did thanks to my visit and above all I would not have followed the centre's tip to view the runic stones at night (which I did later!). The highlight of the museum is perhaps the Jelling Cup which was found in the North Mound. I could enjoy a virtual drone view over the mound just opposite the museum as well as a panoramic view from the terrace. I also got a full body scan and incineration simulation to supposedly reach Valhalla. The interactive runic stones on screen give you an idea of how the stones must have looked like when they were painted. The stones' journey to Jelling is also worthwhile to fully appreciate the OUV of Denmark's first inscribed WHS. There's a very bad replica of the Harald stone just behind the museum while a photo inside the museum shows a much better painted replica which was placed at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. The UNESCO certificate of inscription is inside the Jelling Church just next to the runic stones. There are some interesting geometric murals but clearly this is not why this site is a WHS. The Harald Bluetooth Runic Stone is perhaps the best example of a runestone worldwide. It has 3 intricately carved sides, one side contains what has been described as Denmark's christening certificate, one side contains an engraving of a dragon or serpent and one side supposedly has the image of Christ on it. Studies have shown that there are significant cracks in this stone and mostly because of natural weathering but also because of an act of vandalism in the past, the rune stones now stand in separate glass enclosures. This means that it is quite difficult to appreciate all 3 sides at daylight, partly because of the reflection and shadows caused by visitors and partly because the engravings have eroded quite a lot (especially the side with the image of Christ). The image of the serpent or dragon is in the best condition of the 3 and is best viewed in the afternoon sunlight. Different theories suggest that this dragon is a fabulous Norse animal, the Midgard serpent, the serpent from the Garden of Eden or more convincingly the lion of St Mark. It is facing the side on which Christ is portrayed with outstretched arms. These engravings resemble a story in a book, in which two pages meet. Around 1000 years ago pressure from the Holy Roman Emperor was significant and eventually tales of forced conversion reached Jelling too. The inscription states something along the lines of "I, Harald, made the Danes Christian!" even though in reality this conversion took a long time to take place. I could not see the engraving of Christ because of its erosion and because of the poor lighting so after climbing both mounds and strolling round the site perimeter, I had dinner at my hotel. After that I plucked a bit of courage and drove back the pitch black narrow roads to the Jelling Mounds to view the lit up runic stones at night just before complete darkness around 11pm. It felt quite spooky to be alone till midnight in the middle of a Scandinavian cemetery but the experience was totally worth it. All the runic stone engravings were visible and I could appreciate them better and take photos. If you have the time, I'd highly recommend visiting at night to round up your visit of one of the best WHS Denmark has on offer.

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