Moesgård Museum of Prehistory

Lonely Planet review

The Moesgård Museum of Prehistory is home to well-presented history exhibits from the Stone Age to the Viking era But above all else, you should visit Moesgård for the museum's most dramatic exhibit: the 2000-year-old Grauballe Man, or Grauballemanden, whose astonishingly well-preserved body was found in 1952 at the village of Grauballe, 35km west of Århus.

The superb new display on the Grauballe Man is part history lesson, part CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode. Was he a sacrifice to Iron Age fertility gods, an executed prisoner perhaps, or simply a victim of murder? Either way, the broken leg and the gaping neck wound suggest his death, sometime around 290 BC (give or take 50 years), was a horribly violent one. His body and skin, tanned and preserved by the unique chemical and biological qualities of the peat bog in which he was found, are remarkably intact, right down to his hair and fingernails (and even the remains of his final meal - a herb-filled porridge - in his stomach). Away from the death and violence, there's an enjoyable walking trail, dubbed the 'Prehistoric Trackway' or Oldtidsstien, leading from behind the museum across fields of wildflowers, past grazing sheep and through beech woods down to Moesgård Strand, one of Århus' best sandy beaches. The trail, marked by white stones, passes reconstructed historic sights including burial sites and an Iron Age house. Before heading off, pick up a brochure and map at the museum. You can walk one way and catch a bus from the beach back to the city centre, or follow the trail both ways as a 4km round-trip. Bus 6 from Århus terminates at the museum, and runs half-hourly year-round. Bus 19 runs from May to September and terminates at Moesgård Strand. If you have your own wheels, it's a lovely drive through forest to reach the museum - take Strandvejen south and follow the signs.