Jelling Heritage Site
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The Jelling burial mounds and one of the runic stones represents the striking features of the Nordic culture. On the other hand, the other runic stones represents the Christianization undergone by the Danish people during the mid half of the 10th century.
Jelling was a royal monument erected during the reigns of Harald Bluetooth and his father Gorms approximately around the 10th century. There is not sufficient proof to exactly determine the date and it might have been erected even before this era. The complex consists of two flat-topped mounds, 70 metres in diameter and up to 11 metres high, which are almost identical in shape and size and construction, being built of turf, carefully stacked in even layers, with the grass side facing downwards.
Harald Bluetooth announced his accomplishments by placing a stone between the two mounds and establishing the first wooden church at Jelling after bringing Christianity to Denmark and uniting Norway with the nation.
Architectural and construction details[edit]
The large runic stone is placed in the center, equidistant from the two mounds, at the bottom of the interlaced Nordic dragon. The inscription stated ‘King Harald bade this monument be made in memory of Gorm his father and Thyra his mother, that Harald who won for himself all Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christians".
On the south-west face is the earliest depiction of Christ in Scandinavia, with an inscription relating to the conversion of the Danes to Christianity between 953 and 965. The original position of an adjacent smaller runic stone is not known. However, the stone has been in its present location since about 1630. Its inscription reads "King Gorm made this monument to his wife Thyra, Denmark's ornament". A small simple church of whitewashed stone is on the site of at least three earlier wooden churches, all of which were destroyed by fire. Excavations in 2006 have revealed evidence of a magnificent palisade surrounding the monument, and parts of a ship setting of unknown dimension.[1]
Cultural significance of the site[edit]
These rocks mark the initial phase of the mass conversion that will take place among the Scandinavian people towards Christianity, making the Jelling Mounds, runic stones and church am=n outstanding manifestations of an event of exceptional importance. The consecutive ancient burial mounds, one pagan runic stone, another marking the advent of Christianity, and the rise of the church signifying Christian ascendancy are all striking examples of this shift between pagan and Christian beliefs. Both in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, the complex is remarkable.[1]
Current status of the site[edit]
The stones' state is of concern, thus in 2006 the National Museum took the initiative to conduct a thorough assessment to evaluate the stones' state and determine the best course of action for their future preservation.[2]
The report suggests that there is significant amount of damp which combined with temperature fluctuations around 0°C, have led to frost damage, which was identified as the greatest damaging factor for the two runestones.
The rising global warming will mean that Denmark experiences fewer freeze-thaw cycles. In future, therefore, stone heritage objects will be less vulnerable to frost damage than they are today. However, the present situation of the runestones at Jelling is assessed to be "extremely critical" for the small stone and "worrying" for the large one. It has therefore been decided to erect a protective building around the two Jelling stones to protect them from further climate impact, res while eliminating any need to move the stones.[3]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones and Church". UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO (CC BY 3.0 IGO) license.
- ↑ Runestenene i Jelling truet.
- ↑ Kaslegard, Anne S. (2011). Climate Change and Cultural Heritage in the Nordic Countries. Nordic Council of Ministers. p. 53. ISBN 9789289321952. Search this book on
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