LINDHOLM BURIAL SITE AND VIKING MUSEUM

You have to cross the fjord to reach this exceptional site. You will discover an authentic Viking cemetery. It has been covered by sand for centuries. Sand brought by the very strong southwest wind that often blows in the region and that, at the end of the first millennium, was no longer stopped by trees, following the intensive deforestation carried out by the Vikings to build their houses and their ships.

At the end of the last century, a doctor in Aalborg reported to the authorities that important remains could be buried in this soil. Later, an old lady, Augusta Zanginberg, took samples which she sent regularly and patiently, from 1889, with her notes, to the National Museum in Copenhagen. But the capital was not interested in the presumed treasure buried under 4 meters of sand. It was not until 1952 that it was recognized that excavations were necessary and that funds were made available. More than 700 Viking tombs were then brought to light! Plus a few bones (few because cremation was very common in the last Viking period), tools and jewels.

The site of Lindholm was, from the VIth to the XIIth century, a big Viking city.

One can admire large stones engraved with geometrical figures for the oldest or boats for the most recent. Not far from there, was a Viking village, which gradually expanded over the cemetery then already invaded by the sand.

Also to be seen (except in summer), at the far end of the site, the furrows of a field once plowed by a Viking farmer. In the 1950s, archaeologists also discovered traces left by the wheels of a cart and the hooves of a horse: it is thought that the man was fleeing through his field invaded by the sand! A coin found in the same place suggests that this escape took place around 1036-1039.

The museum, opened in 1992, houses many funerary artifacts (jewelry, beads and pottery) found in the tombs as well as bones. The outdoor site is of more interest than the museum, but the latter is being modernized and is setting up a movie theater for its visitors.

From the entrance and the terrace of the museum's café, one has a beautiful view of the whole region and the atmosphere is very calm. Not far from there is a military field (the sounds of gunfire can be heard regularly while walking between the graves).