Jelling Mounds Runic Stones and Church Denmark

The Jelling burial mounds and one of the runic stones are striking examples of pagan Nordic culture, while the other runic stone and the church illustrate the Christianization of the Danish people towards the middle of the 10th century. Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones and Church is Located in central Jutland, Jelling was a royal monument during the reigns of Gorm, and his son Harald Bluetooth, in the 10th century, and may possibly pre-date 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.

Jelling Mounds Runic Stones and Church
Continent: Europe
Country: Denmark
Category: Cultural
Criterion: (III)
Date of Inscription: 1994

The first wooden Church

After the arrival of Christianity into Denmark, and integrating Norway with the country, Harald Bluetooth proclaimed his achievements by erecting a stone between the two mounds and building the first wooden church at Jelling.

Heritage Site Jelling Mounds Runic Stones and Church
Jelling Mounds Runic Stones and Church

Browse Gallery Plus UNESCO Storyline

Danes Christians

The large runic stone is located exactly midway between the two mounds. Its incised inscription, beneath an inscribed interlaced Nordic dragon, reads "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.

Slideshow for this Heritage Site


Browse All UNESCO World Heritage Sites in . The original UNESCO inscription Here!!!

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