Aeroskobing, Denmark

Beach Houses
BEACH HOUSES
Dolls House
SMEDEGADE
Hammerichshus
HANNERICHS HOUSE
Castle Mound
BORGEN CASTLE MOUND

The single biggest attraction on Ærø is nature itself. The combination of soft beach lines towards the South-Funen Archipelago and wilder and more rugged coasts to the Baltic, and the undulating hills, the reclaimed coves and the impressive flora is unique - nature shows a new face each day of the year!

Located half way up the northern coast of Ærø is Ærøskøbing - probably the most well-preserved town of the 18th century in Denmark. The town dates back to the early Middle Ages and recently celebrated its 750-year jubilee. Many of its houses are unconditionally preserved and the town as a whole is subject to a preservation planning with strict guidelines for the development of the town and for the construction of new houses and renovation of old ones.

The museums tell the story of Ærøskøbing and centuries as a market town where shipping and trade were the main activities in addition to hinterland farming.

MARSTAL MARITIME MUSEUM is a first-class attraction with approx. 200 ship's models and large collections of paintings and bottle ships. The Museum also holds many objects affiliated with ships and shipping. In addition, English faience and Kellinghusen faience plus prehistoric finds.

The Museums in Ærøskøbing Municipality have four departments: ÆRØ MUSEUM in Brogade, is a regional museum. It holds shipping, agricultural and borough cultures, prehistoric finds from stone-age villages, the town's old pharmacy, a newly erected collection of costumes, and traditional collections from town and country.

HAMMERICHS HOUSE is the home of the sculptor Gunnar Hammerich - a well-preserved 18th century townhouse with a fine collection of antiques and Dutch tiles. In the basement of the town hall is a collection of Hammerich's plaster cast busts.

FLASKE-PETERS SAMLING holds "Bottle-Ship Peter's" large collection of bottled ships and ship's models. Peter Jacobsen (1873-1960), took up the maritime crafts as a ship's cook, managed to build 1700 bottle ships. The collections also include H.C. Pedersen's fine woodcarvings and a newly erected arrangement of D/S ÆRØ´s shipping office from Ærøskøbing Harbour with many ferry paintings by marine painter Schøsler-Pedersen.

SØBYGAARD is the fourth department under the Museums in Ærøskøbing Municipality. Preserved buildings from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance make Søbygaard a place of national cultural heritage. On top of the outstanding castle mounds was once a fortress and the entire system was part of the combating of the Wends. Finds indicate that King Niels (1104-1134) was the builder. At the food of the mounds stands the small manor house that Duke Hans built around 1580. The farm was built in the middle of a small lake, formed by damming a brook. The main building, the Castle, as well as the three-winged home farm were built on islands with meter-high boulder-studded sides, connected by drawbridges between farm, castle and mounds. A select little place of historic interest.

Ærøskøbing Church at the market square is the third church on that location and on the square are the two old town pumps that supplied the town with water right up till 1952. The old harbour has been enlarged by a new marina and the beach at Vesterstrand with its colourful little beach huts is only a few minutes' walk from the town and the harbour. For the many visitors to the town, fine overnight accommodation is offered by the camp-ing site, the youth hostel, guest houses, and hotels.

Ærøskøbing is a perfect idyll with its cobbled streets, hollyhocks, and the small, well-preserved houses with their many peculiar details. Danish as well as foreign guidebooks describe the town as the Fairy-Tale Town. Don't forget though, that behind the idyllic facade of the town is a live and active town that has solved successive generations' housing needs for centuries. The town's development has been rational and gradual, governed by natural conditions - what we would refer to today as sustainable. Just the way all other towns in the country developed. But Ærøskøbing remains the only original one

To an exceptional extent, Ærøskøbing has preserved its Middle-Age sequence of streets and a very large number of old houses. Most of them in one storey, and the oldest ones date back to 1645. It is a beautiful experience to take a walk round town and study the many details of these houses.

Marstal, in the 1500s a small fishing hamlet, developed in the 1700s to become an important seafaring town.

Søby Volde. Ramparts of a Middle-Age castle on high grounds which was presumably built by the Crown in the 1100s at the bottom of Vitsø Cove which was at that time still navigable . It represents the biggest and most splendid castle mounds in Denmark.

Drejet. The ford which previously connected Marstal with the rest of Ærø. The present county road was elevated and behind the road and the planted wood is the drained-off cove, Gråsten Nor.

Ærøs Hale, the 1.5km long "tail" (or "hale"), consists of beach ridges, longshore bars and curved points. This is a "living" landscape as the sea constantly changes its form.

From the point of the Ommel Peninsula, the long tongue, Trillerne, stretches out to the east. The Trillerne area is still growing and consists of salt marsh and curved points surrounded by shallows.

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