Sights in Funen
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Skovsgaard
If you’ve been touring Denmark’s decadent palaces, it’s refreshing to visit Skovsgaard. The kitchen cellars, pumproom, servants’ dining room and housekeeper’s room of the old manor house have been furnished with dummies and props, giving an interesting glimpse of how the lower half lived. The stables hold a carriage museum with 25 horse-drawn vehicles. There’s also an organic food café at the entrance. It has a small menu of fresh-brewed coffee, homemade bread and cakes, salads, burgers and sandwiches. There’s also a little garden with tables. Recommended.
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Danmarks Jernbanemuseum
Clamber aboard a diverting collection of 19th-century locomotives at Danmarks Jernbanemuseum, just behind the train station. The museum has about two dozen engines and wagons, including double-decker carriages and the Royal Saloon Car belonging to Christian IX, fully kitted out with everything a king might need – even a writing desk. There’s also a huge collection of Märklin model trains, and a separate exhibition about Denmark’s ferries. Audiovisual explanations are in English, German and Danish.
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Langelandsfort
There are few better Danish examples of Cold War paranoia than Langelandsfort, built in 1953 to defend the western Baltic against the Russians. You can descend into various bunkers and command centres, board a claustrophobic U-boat, explore a minesweeper and peer inside two fighter planes (a Russian MiG-23 and an F-35 Draken). The solid grey masses of concrete, rusting barbed wire and camouflage-green emplacements and anti-aircraft guns are in startling contrast to the picnic-perfect countryside in which they are set.
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Fyns Kunstmuseum
In a stately neoclassical building, the Fyns Kunstmuseum has a serene atmosphere and contains a quality collection of Danish art from the 18th century to the present, chronologically arranged. Highlights include Gustava Emilie Grüner’s cheerful Portraegruppe Familien Leunbach and HA Brendekilde’s harrowing, powerful Udslidt, (‘Worn Out’), depicting a dead farm worker and distressed woman in a vast, flat field. Changing exhibitions are also staged.
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Naturama
Naturama, a natural history museum, is in an impressive spiral building with displays of stuffed animals and skeletons on three levels – whale bones dominate the basement, Scandinavian mammals lurk on the middle floor, while birds from the tiny Pallas’ leaf warbler to the golden eagle float on a balcony above it all. There’s state-of-the-art sound and lighting, and regular film shows and a good hands-on section where you can stroke a mole, draw a wolf or dress up in skins.
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Odense Zoo
Denmark’s second largest zoo borders the river, 2km south of the city centre. The animals generally have large enclosures and the zoo supports conservation and educational programmes. It’s home to tigers, lions, giraffes, zebras, chimpanzees and African birds, and there’s an ‘oceanium’ with penguins and – the zoo’s biggest attraction – manatees. Children can also enjoy petting donkeys, a playground and lots of animal related games.
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Bymuseet Møntergården
Odense’s city museum, Bymuseet Møntergården, is in a courtyard of half-timbered Renaissance houses. The ‘Creative Man’ exhibition on the ground floor focuses on Funen’s very early cultural history, while upstairs there are nice Stone, Bronze, Iron and Viking Age finds, including a lur (a snaking bronze instrument sounding like a trombone).
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Brandts Klædefabrik
The former textile mill on Brandts Passage has been converted into a sprawling cultural centre and cinema, Brandts Klædefabrik, with a photography museum, modern art gallery and exhibition tracing the history of the Danish media. Bright and capacious, it holds around 25 changing exhibitions annually by artists from all over the world. People aged under 18 are admitted free.
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Fyrtøjet – Et Kulturhus For Børn
In the charming Fyrtøjet – Et Kulturhus For Børn, youngsters explore the world of Hans Christian Andersen through storytelling and music (in English as well as Danish from June to August). They can dress up as Andersen characters, have their faces painted, act out stories and draw fairy-tale pictures in the art room. All materials are included in the admission price.
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Den Fynske Landsby
A delightful open-air museum, Den Fynske Landsby has borrowed period houses from around Funen and laid them out to create a small country village, complete with barnyard animals, a duck pond, apple trees and flower gardens. Costumed ‘peasants’ tend to the geese, while children in knickerbockers play with hoops and sticks.
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Anne Hvides Gård
The oldest house in Svendborg, dating from 1560, is Anne Hvides Gård, a bumblebee-coloured structure that leans tipsily to one side. Its basic collection of local archaeological finds is labelled in Danish, but pop in if you’re passing to see the strangest item: a 14th-century wooden statue of the four-faced god Svantevit.
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Forsorgsmuseet Viebæltegård
Forsorgsmuseet Viebæltegård is Denmark’s only poorhouse and workhouse museum. It’s unusual –we’d certainly never seen a lice box before – and on Wednesday in high summer you can even sample poorhouse food. About a third of the information is in English.
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Danmarks Mediemuseum
Danmarks Mediemuseum traces the development of printing in Denmark over the last three centuries. One section covers lithography, engraving, bookbinding and paper-making; the other section concentrates on newspaper production. Commentary is mostly in Danish.
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Jernalderlandsbyen
Slip back through the millennia at Jernalderlandsbyen, a smaller scale (than Den Fynske Landsby) Iron Age village built using methods gleaned from archaeological finds. The village is 5km northwest of the city – take bus 91 or 810 (24kr, 10 minutes).
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Kunsthallen Brandts
Kunsthallen Brandts, the modern art gallery, has four large halls focusing on new trends in the visual arts. Thought provoking and ever-changing displays include paintings, sculptures, installations and exhibits on Scandinavian design.
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HC Andersens Hus
HC Andersens Hus lies amid the miniaturised streets of the old poor quarter, the ‘City of Beggars’. The attraction incorporates Andersen’s birthplace, although its seven rooms are disappointingly sparse.
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Munke Mose
The riverside Munke Mose park is an attractive place for a picnic, stroll or boat trip. Rowing boats and swan-shaped pedaloes (around kr75 per hour) are for hire between 10:00 and 17:00, May to mid-September.
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Carl Nielsen Museet
In Odense’s concert hall, Carl Nielsen Museet details the career of the city’s native son Carl Nielsen (1865–1931), Denmark’s best known composer.
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HC Andersens Barndomshjem
In the city centre, HC Andersens Barndomshjem has a couple of rooms of mildly diverting exhibits in the small house where Andersen spent much of his childhood.
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Museet for Fotokunst
Museet for Fotokunst, dedicated to the photographic arts, has both permanent and temporary collections by national and international practitioners.
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Sankt Knuds Kirke
Odense’s imposing 14th-century Gothic cathedral Sankt Knuds Kirke reflects the city’s medieval wealth and stature.
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Vor Frue Kirke
The oldest church in Odense, although records confirming this are hazy. Most of the whitewashed interior dates back to the 13th century.
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Nedergade
Nedergade is a cobblestone street with leaning half-timbered houses and antique shops.
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HC Andersen Haven
The HC Andersen Haven is a riverside park with a prominent statue of the author.
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