Kongehallen opens June 17, 2020

Denmark’s largest Viking Hall opens on June 17

The Vikings of the past are a people with a reputation for being unfazed by stormy weather and rough seas. The same can be said of the many professionals and experts at Lejre Land of Legends, who have been working for several years to recreate the largest Viking hall ever found in Denmark.

Together with some of Denmark’s most skilled craftsmen and architects and supported by A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal and Augustinus Fonden, they have made the dream a reality. The 61 meter long royal hall has been recreated based on archaeological finds from Gl. Lejre, which was excavated by Roskilde Museum in 2009. It was scheduled to open its doors at the end of May at a large-scale event with over 1000 guests.

An opening that the current corona pandemic situation has made impossible.

Nevertheless, the cultural attraction on Zealand is not to be deterred by the rough seas. Instead, they have planned an opening that can reach many more.

Denmark’s largest Viking building opened its doors on Wednesday, June 17

The grand opening took place on Wednesday, June 17, when Lejre Land of Legends’ patron, Her Majesty the Queen, cut the ribbon to the giant Viking building. And even though the Corona pandemic required a change of date and a completely different framework than originally planned, it was still a grand opening.

-“We’ve had to adapt. It should be no secret, says a tired but smiling Director of Land of Legends, who in recent months has had a firm grip on the tiller and led Land of Legends through one of the toughest storms in his more than 20 years in the post.

-“Currently, the pandemic means that we, like everyone else, have had to turn our plans upside down. Fortunately, this means that we in Denmark have the pandemic under control and are gradually reopening. Therefore, we are very happy that we can now open the doors again,” says Lars Holten and explains some of the many changes and precautions that Lejre Land of Legends has put in place to ensure an opening that is both safe and worthy of the building and the ancient Viking kings:

-It has been quite a task. Of course, one of the most difficult things has been to cut the guest list. Both in relation to the fact that we were created to communicate to as many guests as possible, and in relation to the fact that there have been so many incredibly competent and committed people involved in making the dream of recreating the impressive headquarters of the Kings of Lejre a reality.

Everyone is invited on a journey through time

Therefore, on Wednesday, June 17, a small group of people with due distance inaugurated and opened the royal hall for future guests. The door was thrown open to the monumental recreated building. With more than 1000 tons of Danish oak timber, a myriad of intricate hand-forged details taken directly from archaeological finds, a myriad of extraordinary carvings, and a princely interior with everything from weapons to jewelry, beds and long tables, this year’s new addition to Lejre Land of Legends is a building and an experience that truly honors the Viking kings of Denmark.

On the same day, Lejre Land of Legends also received the Amalienborg Medal from Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik’s Foundation. The foundation has appreciated Lejre Land of Legends’ recreation and dissemination of the King’s Hall project, which highlights that the area around Lejre was an important center for the Danish Vikings over 1000 years ago. The medal is accompanied by a prize of DKK 300,000.

-Fortunately, Denmark’s earliest Viking kings didn’t settle when it came to square meters. Kongehallen is over 650 square meters in size, which means there’s plenty of room for everyone over the summer. Even with the current COVID-19 precautions, says the director:

–“As soon as the hall is inaugurated, it will be open to everyone who wants to visit Lejre Land of Legends. “We’ve done a huge amount of preparatory work to ensure that it will be both possible and safe to visit Kongehallen from day one. This means that we will have staff handling the guest flow, so we can ensure a day in Lejre Land of Legends with great experiences and no queues,” says a proud director, and concludes:

-“We can’t wait! It will be a fantastic day when we can finally open the door and show the finished result of many years of work, both to our dedicated and knowledgeable patron, Her Majesty the Queen, and to our many guests. For us, it’s a great day when we not only invite people into our 43 hectares of beautiful natural landscape, but can now also offer the greatest Viking experience in 1300 years.

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Facts about: THE WORLD OF THE LEGENDARY KINGS – In the World of the Legendary Kings project, Lejre Land of Legends is recreating Denmark’s largest Viking hall. The building is 61 meters long and the original was excavated by archaeologists from Roskilde Museum in 2009. The project has been realized with support from two major foundations, A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal and Augustinus Fonden, which have donated DKK 65 and 11 million respectively to the project.

The project combines the elegant architecture and craftsmanship of the Vikings with 21st century technology and knowledge about indoor climate, working environment and lighting. As a result, Kongehallen’s superior hall structure is placed on modern foundations with power, heating, water and fiber cables that enable year-round activities. A new 4,000 m2 geothermal heating system ensures sustainable heating of both buildings.

The World of the Magi is therefore not only an innovative cultural history project that connects the deep roots of history across archaeology, mythology, architecture and landscape in an integrated experience. It is also a technological innovation project where Land of Legends aims to break new ground and show how to aesthetically bridge prehistoric architecture with modern, sustainable technology and production methods to create a flexible framework for historical living, teaching and cultural history events.

Collaboration partners
Lejre Land of Legends has a wide range of partners in the project, whose expertise has helped turn dreams into reality:

• Client advisor: Elgaard Architecture A/S
• Total consultant: Wohlert Arkitekter A/S
• Engineer: Eduard Troelsgård A/S, Rådgiv. Engineers
• Electrical engineer: Gert Carstensen A/S
• Special advisor 3D design: Tegnestuen Kronværk
• Turnkey contractor: A/S Julius Nielsen & Søn
• Wood supplier: Bondeskovgård Sawmill
• CNC cutting, ornamentation: Bystrup Maskinsnedkeri
• Sculptor, Sanna Marie Seipelt
• Forging: Emil Nielsens Smedeværksted A/S

Facts about: SAGNLANDET LEJRE – Historical-Archaeological Research and Education Center is Denmark’s oldest Knowledge-Pedagogical Activity Center (VPAC), which opened to the public in 1965 under the name Historical-Archaeological Research Center. In 2009, the center changed to a new, more popular name SAGNLANDET LEJRE. There are a total of 16 VPACs with operating grants from the Ministry of Education in Denmark.

The VPACs cover: “… the technical & scientific and the artistic, cultural, historical, literary and philosophical fields, are not museums, but stand for an alternative and supplementary dissemination of difficult-to-access phenomena and concepts – and whose concept is based on knowledge dissemination through the active participation of the audience.”(www.uvm.dk)

During the first 50 years, 3.3 million visitors, including 1 million schoolchildren, have passed through the gateway to antiquity and had their own, hands-on experiences with the lives of their ancestors in the beautiful landscapes and living historical environments from the Stone Age, Iron Age, Viking Age and 19th century.

On February 27, 2015, the Minister of the Environment and the Danish Parliament designated the area in which Lejre Land of Legends is located as Zealand’s first national park, Skjoldungernes Land National Park.

For further information contact:Director Lars Holten, e-mail: lah@sagnlandet.dk, dir. tel. 4642 4940, mobile 3030 0839

Head of Communications: Tania Lousdal Jensen, e-mail: tlj@sagnlandet.dk, tel. +45 5355 0443
Press attendance:
Press representatives will need to register with their full name, the media they represent, email address and direct telephone number here. Lejre Land of Legends’ press contact is Communications Manager Tania Lousdal Jensen, who can be reached at e-mail tlj@sagnlandet.dk and phone: +45 5355 0443.

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