Remember how I mentioned in my previous post that I was trying to squeeze in a few last days of sightseeing before my semester abroad ends? Well, this post continues where I left off by describing my fun activities on Saturday, April 28.
Roskilde
The next morning, on Saturday, April 28, I took a regional train to Roskilde to see the Cathedral and the Viking Ship Museum. Roskilde is famous for its summer music festival; I’m bummed I won’t be in Denmark this summer and won’t have a chance to see it. Anyway, besides the summer music festival, the Viking Ship Museum and the Roskilde Cathedral are without-a-doubt the major attractions of the city.
It was a beautiful day, and the first thing I saw when I arrived was the three large Roskilde Jars right across from the railway station. As I walked towards the cathedral, I briefly stopped at a very nice public square where I encountered a merchant with some cute wooden ducks for sale (see the picture). It wasn’t hard to find the cathedral; you can see it from afar, and it’s certainly a beautiful brick building. The Roskilde Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a prime example of French-influenced gothic architecture. Many Danish kings and queens are buried there. The museum is open to the public……..as long as it isn’t in the middle of a church service. I made the mistake of arriving at 10:30 AM only to learn the inside of the cathedral wouldn’t be open to the public until 1 PM. So, realizing it was time for plan b, I switched the order of my itinerary and started my day at the Viking Ship Museum instead of the cathedral.
The Viking Ship Museum
The Viking Ship Museum is located right along the Roskilde Fjord and features the remains of five 11th-century Viking ships recovered from the fjord in the 1960s. The ships were deliberately sunk in the fjord in the 11th century in order to block a navigation channel and protect the city from seaborne attacks (Roskilde was the Danish capital at the time). The museum consists of an outdoor site and boatyard along with an indoor portion with the remains of the five Viking ships. You have to pay to see the indoor portion, but you can walk around the outdoor site and shipyard and read the informative displays for free. The outdoor section also has a rope-making workshop and areas where you can see where they have been reconstructing ships using traditional techniques and materials.
I thoroughly enjoyed examining the five preserved/re-constructed sunken ships in the indoor part of the museum. The ships were Skuldelev 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. Skuldelev 1 was a sturdy trading vessel, Skuldelev 2 was a long warship, Skuldelev 3 was a small trading ship, Skuldelev 5 was a small longship, and Skuldelev 6 was a fishing boat. Skuldelev 2 was reconstructed in the museum’s boatyard. The finished ship, the Sea Stallion from Glendalough, recently completed a voyage to Dublin and back. Most of the ships were made primarily of Danish oak. Another fun fact: by law, the ships were required to equip 1 bow and 24 arrows per thwart (see picture). I recommend spending time in the inside part of the museum because it is really cool to read about and see the preserved Viking ships.
Roskilde Cathedral
After finishing up at the Viking Ship Museum, I returned to the Roskilde Cathedral. They give you a free and informative “Roskilde Cathedral Guide” in English once you pay to enter.
The first church on the site was made of wood, built by Harold Bluetooth, and likely located at the same spot as the present-day cathedral. The present brick cathedral was stared in the 1170s under bishop Absalon. The King’s Door is just a little straight and to the left of where you enter the cathedral. It’s made of bronze and features images of ears of wheat referring to the bread broken by Jesus. Looking up from next to the King’s Door, you can see a clock. This clock from the 1400s depicts St. George, and each hour St. George slays the dragon and it lets out a wail. I was fortunate enough to hear this twice since I spent several hours inside the cathedral. Moving forward through the cathedral, you notice the organ. The oldest part of the cathedral’s organ is from 1425, and the organ is still used at church services today. Progressing further, you see a three-winged altarpiece made in Antwerp in 1560 showing the events of Easter.
Many Danish kings and queens are buried in the cathedral. I got to see the sarcophagus of Queen Margrete I, the sarcophagi of Christian 5 & Fredrik 4, Fredrik 5’s chapel (an excellent example of neo-classicism, and you can see Frederik 7’s oaken coffin decorated with a gilded wreath of oak leaves given to the king by women’s organizations in gratitude for the inclusion of women in the constitution given by the king), Christian 4’s chapel (featuring two large paintings, one of which shows the scene when the king was wounded by shrapnel in a naval battle), and the Royal Children’s Crypt. You can also see where they are planning a future monument for the present Danish queen and her husband. I only got to spend a couple minutes in the upstairs cathedral museum, but take note that most of the exhibit is only in Danish.
Danny in Denmark 