Lejre Land of Legends honored with the Amalienborg Prize and DKK 300,000

-“I had to pinch myself just to make sure I was really awake and not just dreaming,” says archaeologist Lars Holten, director of Lejre Land of Legends, about the moment he noticed a very special email in his inbox. With the subject line ‘Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik’s Foundation’. The sender was the foundation’s secretary, who revealed that the cultural attraction on Zealand had been selected for a very special honor:

-It is my pleasure to inform you that on the occasion of Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday, the board of the Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik Foundation has decided to award the Amalienborg Prize to Lejre Land of Legends. Along with the prize, the Amalienborg Medal, created by Professor Mogens Bøggild in 1983, wasawarded , according to the email, which also stated that: The prize includes DKK 300,000 for the continued dissemination of Denmark’s past from the Stone Age to the rural era, as well as the Amalienborg Medal. This is the 14th time the Amalienborg Prize has been awarded.

–“We are humbled, grateful and, not least, proud of the great recognition of Lejre Land of Legends’ professionalism and efforts to make Denmark’s prehistory and history alive and interesting for all ages,” says a happy and touched Lars Holten and continues:

-“Not least now, after 10 years of work, we in the Land of Legends are putting the finishing touches on recreating Denmark’s largest royal hall from the Viking Age, which Roskilde Museum excavated at Gl. Lejre in 2009, says the director and explains how much the award means to the cultural institution, which since 1964 has focused on living and sensory communication of prehistory:

“It’s a gift that we never dreamed of when we embarked on the wild idea of recreating something as large as the giant Viking King’s Hall, Denmark’s largest, made of well over 1000 tons of Danish oak timber almost 10 years ago,” smiles the director and tells about the first five years of developing the project to fund applications, Lejre Municipality’s commitment with crucial operational support, the great grants totalling 75 million from A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal and Augustinus Fonden. Thanks to the foundations’ grants in 2015, we could now make the dream of the project a reality. The last five years have been spent on research, drawing, calculations, detailed planning and not least the actual construction with the many tons of oak timber:

-It has required something very special, both from us and from the many dedicated and insanely skilled craftsmen, foresters, architects and engineers who, together with our own employees and volunteers, have contributed in different ways to create something truly unique. It has been and is a true dream team to work with. And now we’ve even received the most wonderful recognition, Her Majesty the Queen’s Amalienborg Prize and Medal. It is truly a fairytale ending – the crowning glory – to our prehistoric royal building.

Her Majesty Queen Margrete II of Denmark during a private visit to the construction of the large Viking Hall in Lejre Land of Legends in 2019. The good news is celebrated with a toast. in disposable glasses and at a safe distance.

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