- Address: Viborgvej 2, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Phone: +45 86 12 31 88
- Official website: http://www.dengamleby.dk/
- Working hours: from 9: 00-18: 00 daily
- Price: 125 DKK; up to 18 years free of charge.
For sure, each of us at least once dreamed about the possibility of traveling in time. It's so interesting - to see how our distant ancestors lived and how our descendants will live. With the future so far, alas, nothing, but feel the spirit of the past is quite real. To do this, you only need to visit the historical open-air museum in the village on the outskirts of Aarhus , Denmark's second largest city. The museum complex is called Den Gamle By, which in our sense means "Old Town". Here reigns the atmosphere of the long-gone Danish urban lifestyle that you could only read about in fairy tales.
What is the Old City?
The old town in Århus is one of the main attractions of Denmark. Having made the first step on the territory of the museum, immediately notice passers-by in the clothes of past centuries, traveling on carriages with horses. They are museum workers who care about the Old City and stealthily monitor the observance of order.
In total there are 75 ancient buildings brought from different parts of Denmark in the city. Many houses have preserved their original appearance. The leader among the old buildings is about 560 years old, but the architectural collection of the museum is constantly replenished, so this is probably not the limit. The streets of the city are decorated with buildings from different eras, dating back to the 16th century. Some houses look exactly the same as with all the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, who was loved since childhood. What is there only! And mills, and workshops, and confectionery, where all the delicacies are prepared solely by the recipes of the past, and all kinds of shops, and ordinary houses, inside which the life of ordinary citizens of the city is reflected.
Special attention deserves the Master's Master's of 1638 and the house of the Mayor of 1597. From the last, by the way, the most picturesque museum of Denmark began. The fact is that at the beginning of the 20th century the mayor's house was to be demolished, however, an ordinary teacher Peter Holm stood up for his defense. Defending the right of the old house to continue existence, Peter Holm decided not to stop, and in 1909 he initiated the creation of the museum, the first exhibit of which was the mayor's house, surrounded today by a luxurious rose-rosary in the Renaissance style. The museum was organized on the territory of the botanical garden, so do not be surprised at such an abundance of diverse plants, bushes, trees and flowers. It is worth noting that the gardens are scattered not just so, but also an important part of the museum. For example, near the pharmacy is a garden in the Baroque style, and its inhabitants - popular at that time, plants with healing properties.
What else to see?
Be sure to look in the museum of children's toys, which displays a collection of 6 thousand copies. The oldest toy was created in the middle of the XIX century. Handmade dolls, trains, cars, all sorts of mechanical toys produced by Lehmann - in general, there really is something to see.
In the city there is a museum of watches, reflecting the entire history of this always necessary mechanism, as well as a textile museum with a large collection of products that once gave the houses an atmosphere of coziness and warmth.
If you are curious about the fashion of long-gone epochs, you should visit the tailor's house, the hat and shoe shops.
Walking along the winding cobbled streets of the Old Town, you can find the Danish old school, post office and customs, where there are reliable sources of information on competition between shipping companies of those times. Do not forget to visit the local theater and city port with built-in swimming pool.
Today, the museum is equipped with quarters of the 20s and 70s of the stormy 20th century. Recently, the Copenhagen Mint and a 19th-century house from Odense were transported to an artificial city.
Christmas Fair
In late autumn, the museum begins to prepare for one of the favorite holidays of the Danes - Christmas, on the busy streets of the city there is a fair where you can buy really original things. Many of them, by the way, are made in the workshops of the Old Town. How lucky is he who will be able to see the solemn Den Gamle By - no modern decoration, just retro. In the supposedly residential houses on traditional Christmas trees, exclusively homemade toys, from which the "spirit of Christmas" is blowing, and fresh pastry baking is cooled in the pastry shops.
And yet the Museum Den Gamle By is not without reason, under the attention, the personal patronage of the Danish queen, and in the green Scandinavian reference book "Michelin" has a three-star, that is, the highest, status. It will be interesting for everyone, because in the "Old Town" the story seems to come to life, to tell the guests personally about how everything was really.
How to visit?
Getting to the Old Town in Århus will not be difficult, because there is a bus stop nearby, where you will take routes No. 3A, 19, 44, 111, 112 and 114.
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