Lejre Land of Legends near Roskilde, is the oldest open air museum in Denmark and over has for decades been am example to many. The extensive site was in the 1960s scene for an experimental archaeology village, later followed by an experiment in ethnographic education and now famous for its Iron Age scenery as well as Mesolithic, Viking Age and post medieval area.
Lejre Land of Legends, or in Danish Sagnlandet Lejre, is a private foundation run on a non-profit basis. Until March 2009, it was known as Lejre Experimental Center (Historical-Archaeological Experimental Center), our full official name is now Centre for Historical-Archaeological Research and Communication.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Carlsberg Foundation, the Centre was established in 1964 as an archaeological research station in a unique moraine landscape with woodland, lakes, bogs and fields. Here, professionals from within cultural-historical disciplines and the natural sciences met and continue to meet in order to gain new knowledge about people in the past, their living conditions, methods of cultivation etc. through practical experiments on a multidisciplinary basis.
The unique and controversial experiments involving the reconstruction of houses and agricultural implements from the Iron Age and testing them in practice aroused great public interest. People flocked to the Centre to watch the researchers’ efforts as they literally ploughed and chopped new knowledge about our ancestors’ daily life out of fields and timber. The basis for experience-orientated communication of the researchers’ work was formed and terms such as activating communication and historic workshop teaching arose from the fruitful meeting between learned and layman regardless of sex, age, social and educational background.
Today, Lejre Land of Legends is an atmospheric and exciting tourist attraction for the whole family. 10.000 years of Danish history brought to life. Houses and settings from the Iron Age, Stone Age, Viking Age and the 19th century, historic workshops and domestic animals, located in the beautiful historic landscape.
A day filled with experiences for all senses. Many amusing and challenging activities for children and adults the whole season scattered over our 43 ha of space and peace to enjoy an excursion in the past. We also offer also camp schools, private arrangements and teambuilding.
