Go on a historical day trip around the Vejle area. You'll travel through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Viking Age.
By: Emil Thesbjerg
The Vejle area holds a wealth of historical highlights. You can dive into unique Bronze Age discoveries, experience life in the Iron Age, and get up close to the grand structures of the Viking Age. Pack your backpack and join a Danish history day trip back to ancient times.
In 1921, a sensational discovery was made near Egtved. A farmer stumbled upon an oak coffin while removing the remnants of a burial mound on his field. Inside the coffin, the remains of a young woman aged 16-18 from the Bronze Age were found — the oak coffin was dated to 1370 BC. Her skin was well preserved, though no bones remained. She was dressed in a brown wool blouse and wore a bronze ring on each wrist. Additionally, she wore a skirt made of wool strings and a distinctive bronze belt buckle. Beside the woman, later named the Egtved Girl, bones of a 5-6-year-old child were found, along with a bucket of honey beer and yarrow flowers. The Egtved Girl is now exhibited at the National Museum in Copenhagen, but if you visit her grave in Egtved, you can explore a free exhibition featuring a replica of her clothing and oak coffin.
From the Bronze Age discovery in Egtved, the journey takes us forward to the Iron Age. In Vingsted, you can gain a unique insight into life during the Iron Age at one of Denmark's largest reconstructed Iron Age environments, complete with houses, fields, a smithy, livestock, and a sacrificial site. The Iron Age environment is always open for self-guided exploration, and during events, you can enter the various houses and watch actors perform authentic Iron Age crafts. Here, history truly comes to life.
70 meters above the Vejle River Valley lies Troldborg Ring, a so-called refuge fortress from the Iron Age. Here, local people could seek protection during hostile attacks. The fort is located in a beautiful natural setting, strategically positioned with a view over the valley and Ravning. It was built as a ring fort with a high rampart 60 meters in diameter and a moat. The fort likely dates back to around 100-200 AD, a time of unrest in Jutland with conflicts between rival tribes. A true Iron Age fortification ready for you to explore on an adventure.
From the Iron Age, the journey continues to the Viking Age. The standout attraction from this period is, of course, the Jelling Monuments and Kings' Jelling, which are UNESCO World Heritage sites, telling the story of Denmark's first kings and the transition to Christianity. However, there are other remarkable Viking Age relics to discover on an adventure in the Vejle area. Around 980 AD, the Danish Viking King Harald Bluetooth built Ravning Bridge across the Vejle River Valley—Denmark's longest bridge until the inauguration of the Little Belt Bridge in 1935. Constructed from oak with a length of 760 meters and a width of five meters, the bridge was a remarkable achievement for its time. Ravning Bridge was likely part of a military strategy that allowed troops to be quickly moved southward from the royal seat in Jelling. Today, you can see a reconstruction of the bridge foundations and experience the dimensions of this massive structure where the old bridge once stood. There is also a small exhibition where you can view some of the original oak posts from the bridge.
