Denmark’s past can be visited in close-up at the country’s many history museums. In the provinces, the regional museums bring local Danish history to life, while the open-air museums show Denmark’s heritage in full scale.


The National Museum of History and Culture in Copenhagen recounts the history of Denmark from prehistoric times, through the Viking Age, Middle Ages and the Industrial Age up to the present day. The story of Denmark’s past is staged superbly from archaeological, historical, cultural and ethnographical angles.
www.nationalmuseet.dk

The Prehistoric Museum, Moesgård, near Århus, presents a wealth of relics from prehistoric Denmark to the Viking Age, including an impressive collection of runic stones.
www.moesmus.dk  


Relevant links:
Danish Museums Online is the first step towards creating a virtual museum that covers all of Denmark. You can search for particular subject areas and for practical information about the individual museums.
Danish Museums Online

The various open-air museums and historical adventure centres dotted around the country take visitors back in time to prehistory, the Iron Age, Viking Age or Middle Ages, recreating the past with real-life effects, so that every one of our senses transports us back to Denmark in former times. The smell of the animals and the smithy’s red-hot forge, the flavour of just-smoked fish, the sounds from equestrian jousts all produce the sense of past times.

Frilandsmuseet is located north of Copenhagen and is one of the worlds oldest as well as largest open air museums.
www.natmus.dk

Den Gamle By (“The Old Town”) in Århus, bring history to life in the fully functioning workshops which offer a living and breathing experience of what it was like to live and work in a Danish market town, as it was in the old days.
www.dengamleby.dk  

The Funen Village practices Agriculture and cattleraising as it was done in the 18th and 19th century.
www.odmus.dk  

Hjerl Hede in Northwest Jutland carried out the first living-history event ever in 1932. The museum has a long tradition of exhibiting old village crafts.
www.hjerlhede.dk

The Stoneage Center at Ertebølle near the Limfjord has a telling testament to the Stone Age Dane, in the shape of a well-preserved kitchen midden!
www.stenaldercenter.dk  

Encounters with Stone Age and Iron Age Denmark are to be had at Hjemsted Oltidspark in southern Jutland and at Lejre Experimental Centre near Roskilde. Ribe VikingeCenter invites you to be a Viking for the day, while medieval Denmark emerges large as life at the Medieval Centre on the island of Falster.

Click to learn more about:

Hjemsted Oltidspark
www.hjemsted.dk  

Lejre Experimental Centre
www.lejrecenter.dk  

Ribe Vikingecenter
www.ribevikingecenter.dk 

The Medieval Centre
www.middelaldercentret.dk

A number of museums show individual themes from Denmark’s cultural history. In Copenhagen you can find museums such as The Workers’ Museum (Arbejdermuseet), The Royal Arsenal - Danish Defence Museum (Tøjhusmuseet) and The Museum of the Danish Resistance 1940 – 1945 (Frihedsmuseet). Among many others in Jutland you can find The Danish Agricultural Museum at Gl. Estrup estate.

Click to find more information on the museums

The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum
The Museum of the Danish Resistance 1940 – 1945
The Danish Agricultural Museum

Denmark’s many castles and manor houses explore exciting chapters of Denmark’s history.


Frederiksborg Castle in North Zealand houses the National History Museum (Nationalhistorisk Museum), with collections to illustrate the history of Denmark from the 16th century to the present day.
The National History Museum

Rosenborg Castle houses some of Denmark’s greatest cultural treasures, not least the Crown Jewels and the Danish Crown Regalia.
The Royal Collections, Rosenborg Castle

Amalienborg Castle is the Queen’s residence and part of it are open to the public. It presents a number of private interiors, which reflect the personalities of various members of the Royal House as well as the changing styles of interior design from the Victorian age to our time.
The Danish Royal Collections, Amalienborg

Kronborg Castle at Elsinore is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and houses the Danish Maritime Museum as well as Colonial Museum.
The Danish Maritime Museum

Egeskov Castle on Funen is the best-preserved Renaissance moat castle in Europe and houses a Vintage Car Museum.
Egeskov Vintage Car Museum

Koldinghus in Jutland displays Danish ecclesiastical art down through the ages.
The Museum at Koldinghus 


Relevant links:
Guide to Danish castles and museums
www.slotte.dk  

Apart from the World's largest privately owned lump of amber, the Copenhagen Amber Museum has an excellent collection of amber with embeded insects, plants and other pre-historic material.
House of Amber

Danish Hunting and Forestry Museum (Dansk Jagt- og Skovbrugsmuseum) is one of Europe’s largest museums within this field. Learn about the Danish forests and hunting tradition from the Stone Age and up to the present day.
Danish Hunting and Forestry Museum (Only in Danish)

Esrum Møllegård - Centre for Nature and Environment is located in the northern part of Zealand and is a place for active and practical environmental education.
Esrum Møllegård - Centre for Nature and Environment

Geological Museum in Copenhagen holds one of the world’s best meteorite collections.
Geological Museum