as a tourist The monuments at A large memorial to Mourits Mørk Hansen was put The history of Skamlingsbanken up in 1899. He had been a member of the Assem- The purchase of 10 acres of land around Højskamling in 1843 laid the foundation for one of Den- attraction Højskamling bly of the Estates of the Realm and an energetic mark’s great national meeting places and monuments. Skamlingsbanken is the highest point in advocate of the South cause, ­so energetic South Jutland with roots extending back into prehistory. So it was no accident that this very spot in fact that he was banished from South Jutland also was chosen by Early Iron Age people as a burial place for their dead. by the Prussians after 1864. The memorial was The events on Skamlingsbanken were the result of growing nationalism, something that was designed by his son, the ar­ chitect J. Mørk Hansen, experienced throughout Europe in the years following the Napoleonic wars. On the German side and bears a portrait medallion by Anne Marie Carl powerful forces were at work to create a united Schleswig-Holstein extending as far as the Kongeå Nielsen. It caused­ controversy owing to its similarity River under the German Confederation. The Danes, on the other hand, wanted a Danish Schleswig to a cenotaph,­ with many people express­ing a fear but did not mind relinquishing Holstein. In 1840 the King issued a language ordinance, laying down that Skamlingsbanken would become a cemetery that Danish should be the language of government and the courts wherever it was used in church. with­out any dead. This was later followed up by Peter Hiort Lorenzen who caused offence by speaking Danish at a The large number of scattered monuments of meeting of the Assembly of the Estates of the Realm in Schleswig. A group of North Schleswig far- quite different kinds may engender a feeling mers decided to celebrate the anniversary of the royal language ordinance, and the newly acquired of surprise today, but taken together they are Skamlingsbanken was regarded as a suitable venue. The first Skamlingsbanken meeting was held a fine expression of people’s perception of the 5 on May the 18th 1843, and was a real day of public rejoicing with 6,000 people in attendance. There national question and linguistic struggle in were 9,000 the following year, after which the meetings were held annually. The conflict between the period around 1900. Danish and German interests escalated from cultural disputes to high politics, culminating in the German-Danish Wars of 1848-50. However the fighting did not solve the question of Schleswig’s future, however, and this failure to clarify the situation led to another war in 1864. The Schleswig- Holstein problem was not finally solved until the plebiscites and reunification of North Schleswig with in 1920. The Skamlingsbanken Pillar – a symbol of the civilian struggle

This 16-metre obelisk was built from 25 blocks of Swedish granite to a design by Professor Meldahl. It was completed in October 1863, and bore the following inscription: “Monument to the champions of the Danish cause in Schleswig”, together with the names of 18 prominent 6 The early large-scale festivals and meetings made do with temporary marquees, but the Skamlings- individuals. It was too late in the year for a dedication banken Company built a modest restaurant on the site in 1868. This was a small wooden pavilion ceremony, and the war of 1864 soon intervened. The area The 60th anniversary was commemorated with the erection of a rostrum intended to express the to which many extensions and alterations have been added since, resulting in the restaurant we around Skamling was occupied, and Prussian soldiers spiritual struggle for the Danish language in words and pictures. Based on a design by Lorenz know today. blew the granite pillar up on 21 March. The stones were Frølich and carved by the sculptor Niels Larsen Stevns, it is one of the most symbolic monuments confiscated and put up for auction. The Skamlingsbanken on the site. In a mixture of national, Christian and Old Norse symbols, the front is adorned with the Company arranged for two local men with Danish sym- two lions of Schleswig, Thor’s hammer, Mjølner, and a fish. Carved in stone along the sides of the pathies to bid for the stones, which were hauled off and rostrum are a quotation from Grundtvig and the names of the speakers at the first Skamlingsban- The Royal Hall of 1940 with a frieze transferred to the company. By May 1866 the pillar was ken meetings in 1843 and 1844. Three trees, spruce, birch and beech – symbols of the three Nordic by the sculptor Henrik Starcke de- back on its old foundation – now forming an even more nations – were originally planted in an arc behind the rostrum. picting motifs from the early Skam- powerful symbol thanks to the broken corners and edges lingsbanken meetings is without a caused by the Prussian outrage. A single fragment of the doubt the most fascinating room. pillar still lies hidden in the grass towards the southeast, telling its own silent tale of the explosion. 1

In 1912 a memorial to the priest, teacher and politician Chri- stian Flor was erected, featuring a verse written by Carl Ploug in praise of Flor’s efforts on behalf of the Danish language.

The 1884 memorial to the priest, writer and poet Nicolai Frederik The Skamlingsbanken meetings Changing frontiers Severin Grundtvig, which was erected by the Nordic In its first 100 years, Skamlingsbanken was the venue for 149 mass meetings and popular festivals. The South Jutland border country between the Kingdom of Denmark and the Duchy of Schleswig movement, was the first of a number of monuments to be put up on 7 The early meetings were highly political and focused on language and Danish cultural identity. has been characterised by shifting frontiers and changes of nationality since the Middle Ages. Large Skamlingsbanken over the next 40 years. It is also the most striking. However after the defeat in 1864, when Skamlingsbanken found itself in the Kingdom of Denmark or small areas in Schleswig’s territory belonged to Denmark, while Denmark contained areas that while the entire South Jutland hinterland became Prussian, the hill fell silent. It was not until 1884, belonged to Schleswig. Until the German-Danish War of 1864 the frontier between Denmark and on the initiative of the Nordic folk high school movement, that the meetings restarted in the form Schleswig was formed by the Kongeå River and River. When this war ended Schleswig’s of song festivals, youth conventions and meetings to debate the Danish Constitution. The seizure “eight parishes” were exchanged for the Danish “enclaves” in West Schleswig, with the new 1864 The word rang out like a thunderclap of power by the Nazis in Germany in 1933 lent impetus once more to the drive to protect Danish border being drawn just south of Skamlingsbanken, dividing Tyrstrup District. The reunification of Rolling over the wood cultural identity. The Young Frontier Defence Force held a large rally, attended by 35,000 people, Denmark and North Schleswig in 1920 reunited Tyrstrup District and the whole of South Jutland, It struck like a thunderclap The last memorial in the series was put up in 1921 in honour at Skamlingsbanken in 1934. The meetings at Skamling reached their zenith in June 1945, when and the present-day frontier was established. Other borders have since divided Tyrstrup District Illuminating the waves of Peder Skau, the brother of Laurids Skau, for his important Skamlingsbanken was the setting for one of the largest open-air meetings ever held in Denmark. once more, however, as local government reorganisation in 1970. One half of the District was until It lit a fire in a giant embrace contribution to Danish cultural identity in South Jutland. The Organised by the Resistance, it was attended by between 80,000 and 100,000 people. It was also 2007 in the County of and the other half in the County of Sønderjylland. Today it is in the It lit Skamlingsbanken’s beacon bronze bust is the work of the sculptor Carl Martin Hansen. the first time that armed resistance had been linked with Skamlingsbanken. District of Kolding. With bright flames. In 1998 a new tradition started at Skamling in the form of an annual opera festival, and Skamlings- Grundtvig banken is still a popular meeting place more than 150 years after the first mass gathering. 8 2 The Bell Frame – a memorial to the armed struggle Whereas Skamlingsbanken is a symbol of the civilian struggle for South Jutland, the Bell Frame of 1948 is a memorial to armed resistance. It is a monument for those who lost their lives fighting

th for the Resistance in (Region III). The bell tower was chosen as a symbol of the The 50 anniversary of the first meet- way in which, through the ages, church bells have been rung not just for peaceful purposes, but ing, which had been addressed by also to call the local people to arms. In the shelter of the bells, four commemorative plaques in the Laurids Skau, witnessed the unveiling of an shape of a cross bear the names of the men and women of the Resistance who died. Three times obelisk created by a sculptor by a day the bells play the first few notes of “Prince Jørgen’s March” which was used by the BBC as a the name of Petersen and bearing a bronze call sign during the war. medallion of Skau by Herman Vilhelm Bis- sen. The stanza above, written by Grundtvig after the 1844 meeting, is carved into the obelisk.

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Map of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg by Adolph Bull, 1848

Schleswig’s eight parishes Danish enclaves The memorial column for Permanent Secretary Thomas Regenburg Frontier before 1864 with a portrait medallion by L. V. Pacht was erected in 1897 in memory of his work to introduce the Danish language in churches and schools. Frontier 1864-1920 Frontier after 1920 4 9 5 Welcome to Skamling Hedgerows divide and frame the landscape Kolding Kommune Skamlingsbanken rises prominently above the landscape and history The hedgerows provide shelter for crops, cover for game and aswell. At 113 metres above sea level, Skamlingsbanken is the highest Kolding beauty for the eye. They preserve remnants of wild nature, and point in South Jutland. It is also one of Denmark’s great national meeting act as corridors for plants and animals linking the many woods places and monuments. Whereas Dybbøl Banke is a symbol of the armed and natural enclaves in the area. A waymarked path between struggle against our southern neighbour, Skamlingsbanken is a symbol Binderup Strandskov and Stråruplund runs through the middle of the struggle for Danish cultural identity and the Danish language in of one of the old hedgerows. Walks along these hedgerows offer the South Jutland border country. af unique experience of plenty of fruit-bearing trees and bushes such as rowan, elder, raspberry, blackberry and crap trees etc. This gives an excellent impression of how animals can move across the arable land, well protected in the hedgerows. Skamlingsbanken

The old woods conceal traces of culture The remnants of old Farrisskov forest, which extended in a broad belt across Jutland from Mosvig in the east to Hygum in the west back in the 1600s, have concea- led and protected many traces of old cultures – grave mounds, sunken roads, banks, medieval fields etc. One of the old woods, Grønninghoved Strandskov, contains two impres­sive long barrows – over 50 metres long and Skamlingsbanken also boasts beautiful countryside and a surround­ed by a barrow circle. Large holes in the fill unique panorama of the entire area between Kolding and reveal the original site of the burial chambers. The large . There is an stones from the chambers have long since disappeared un­im­peded view across the – probably split and perhaps used for ashlars in one of to the island of the medieval churches of the surrounding area. Marks in Funen, while towards the some of the stones in the barrow circle show that stonecut- west you can gaze far into ters were active on the site. South Jutland in the di­ rection of the Jutland ridge.

A monument to the power of ice The dramatic landscape Clean water and sea trout in Odderbækken around Skamling, including Dropping 60 metres over a 2-kilometre stretch, the the entire range of hills be- Odder­bækken brook is the nearest thing to a mountain tween Binderup in the north stream in Denmark. The undulating terrain ensures a and Grønninghoved in the powerful flow which oxygenates the water well, while south, was carved out by gla- 5 the land on the banks of the brook is not cultivated very ciers and melted water during intensively. This means that the water in Odderbækken is the last ice age. When the ice as clean as any other water in Denmark. Many sea trout last advanced around 14-15,000 travel up the brook to spawn each autumn, and there are years ago, a glacier forced its way about four trout per square metre of streambed. up through the Little Belt (the Kolding Kommune Little Belt Glacier) from the south- By- og Udviklingsforvaltningen east. Like a bulldozer, it pushed large mounds of rock, gravel and 10 clay ahead of it. It came to a halt 52 Practical information at Skamling, leaving an undulating and highly mixed lateral moraine Halfway between Grønninghoved and Binderup, about 8 kilometres northeast of behind. The alternating layers of clay Cycling, rambling and bathing around Skamling Christiansfeld, in very hilly terrain, there is a sign pointing the way to Skamlingsbanken. and gravel found in the subsurface also National Cycle Route 5 follows the coast of the Little Belt. On the section between Ski- Exhibition: The exhibition at Skamlingsbanken is open explain why there is a spring near the top belund and Binderup Strand it goes right out to the beach, but further south it makes a daily from 10.30 am to 6 pm from the1st of April to the of Højskamling. From Højskamling the land detour inland around Hejls and along Hejls Nor to the old bathing resort of Hejlsminde. 1st of October, at Easter and during the autumn holidays. falls away steeply to both the east and the west. The last section follows the disused railway line that used to run between Kolding and Monday closed. While the hills in the east end in the waves of the Hejlsminde. From Hejls you can also turn down Regional Cycle Route 10 and head west towards gingerbread country and Christiansfeld. Little Belt, the landscape in the west flattens out It is open from 10 am to 4 pm on weekends in March and and falls steadily towards the Jutland ridge. The landscape and nature of Skamling can be enjoyed on a waymarked ramble of just October. over 5 kilometres with plenty of climbing in the beautiful and dramatic countryside between Skamlingsbanken and the Little Belt. The walk includes woods, hedgerows Contact: Restaurant Skamlingsbanken, and beaches, and it offers unique views along the way. A detour takes you past the long tel. (+45) 75 57 20 03 barrows in Grønninghoved Strandskov. www.restaurantskamlingsbanken.dk 5 -The coastline is excellent for children, with shallow water and beautiful sandy beaches offering plenty of opportunities for a dip in the waves of the Little Belt at Binderup Waymarked path Strand, Grønninghoved Strand or Hejlsminde, for example. Facilities: Toilet (including disabled), picnic tables, kiosk (open in summer months). Footpath Waymarked Bus: Bus service 404, Kolding – Hejlsminde. 5 cycle route Cycle path Cyclists: There is a turning to Skamlingsbanken off Car park National Cycle Route 5. Viewpoint Other natural attractions: 51 Cairn Please look at www.naturstyrelsen.dk for more information on other natural attractions. Campsite 500 m Bench © Kort- og Matrikelstyrelsen 2002 Most of the area around Skamling is in private ownership and used for agriculture and forestry, so the general rules of the Protection of Nature Act apply to access: The steep slopes have avoided cultivation Bird life at Hejls Nor and in the Little Belt - You may walk on public land, paths and uncultivated land. Sheep and livestock now graze on some of the steep hillsides and gullies around Thousands of waders and water birds often rest in the shallow waters of Hejls Nor and in the Little From small beach huts to large holiday homes - You may cycle on tracks and paths in open country. Skamlings­banken, keeping the landscape and prospect open. Grazing and haymaking Belt. Some of them have their winter quarters here, and here they can find food for their onward A walk along Grønninghoved Strand and Binderup - Access to publicly owned land is permitted at any time of the day or have probably dominated this rolling landscape ever since the Iron Age. Year by year migration. The birds include greenshanks, spotted redshanks and golden plovers, large flocks of which Strand is also a journey through a century of holiday night. - Access to private land is permitted between 6 am and sunset. repeated grazing and haymaking have created appear here in spring and autumn. In order home development. There are a few old holiday A 5-kilometre ramble around a highly distinctive vegetation of grasses and to protect the great migration, both Hejls Nor homes built in the early 1900s, a lot built in the 1930s - Dogs must be kept in a lead. Skam­lingsbanken is waymar- flowering plants that can only be found on old, and the Little Belt have been turned into bird and 1940s close to the beach, and modern holiday ked with this sign. open and unfertilised commons. Plants like protection areas. Other species such as lapwings, homes set back slightly from the coast. There is a Photography: Gert Hougaard Rasmussen the dwarf thistle, gorse and knapweed. The oystercatchers and redshanks stay in the area fascinating row of cottages and chalets next to the Drawing of birds: Anni Agerbæk scattered hawthorns with their “foot muffs” all year round, and breed here. Large flocks of beach at Moshuse, built using the materials available are particularly striking. Their odd shape is the cormorants often sit drying their wings on fisher- in the post-war years around 1950. A large new area It is available from libraries and tourist information offices or from: result of repeated nibbling by livestock at the man’s stakes out in the water. And in the early of holiday homes is currently under construction at bottom, while the trees have been allowed to summer you can hear the song of nightingales Grønninghoved Strand, and will be one of the last Kolding Kommune grow freely above grazing height. and grasshopper warblers. Redshank – new legislation now prevents any more areas on By- og Udviklingsforvaltningen Tlf.: 79 79 79 79 the Danish coast from holiday-home development. Nytorv 11 [email protected] Lapwing 6000 Kolding www.kolding.dk February 2013