Denmark’s past can be visited in close-up at the country’s many history museums. 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.

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. In the provinces, the regional museums bring local Danish history to life, while the open-air museums show Denmark’s heritage in full scale. Here the fully functioning workshops bring history to life at Den Gamle By (“The Old Town”) in Århus, at the Frilandsmuseet (Open Air Museum) north of Copenhagen, The Funen Village and at Hjerl Hede in Northwest Jutland.

The various 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.

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.

Denmark’s many castles and manor houses explore exciting chapters of Denmark’s history. Frederiksborg Castle in North Zealand houses the National History Museum (Nationalhistoriske Museum), with collections to illustrate the history of Denmark from the 16th century to the present day; Rosenborg Castle contains the Danish Crown Jewels, while parts of the Queen’s residence, Amalienborg Castle, are also open to the public. Kronborg at Elsinore is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Koldinghus displays Danish ecclesiastical art down through the ages. The magnificient Egeskov Castle on Fyn is the best-preserved Renaissance moat castle in Europe.

A number of individual themes from Denmark’s cultural history can be explored at museums such as The Workers’ Museum (Arbejdermuseet), The Royal Arsenal - Danish Defence Museum (Tøjhusmuseet) and The Museum of the Danish Resistance 1940 – 1945 (Frihedsmuseet) in Copenhagen, the Danish Agricultural Museum at Gl. Estrup estate in Jutland and many others, all showcasing interesting aspects of Denmark’s cultural history through the ages.