| Trip by Car
| | Via the text icon You can reach a guide to a trip by car in the northern parts of the Öresund Region.
You can go to the left menu and find more information in the historic part of Øresundstid.
You return to the guide when You click on the title "By car" in the left meny. |
A Car Trip With Children
This trip is directed at families with children, who are in school and depicts f
four days in a car on both sides of the Sound in th northern part of the Sound region. The trip offers lots of experiences and activities for the whole family. But you are free to choose one of the day trips, of course.
In the side menu of Øresundstid you can read of the historical background for the individual destinations.
Under maps and links you will find route directions and links for the home pages of the individual resorts, with information about opening hours, prices, etc.
Day 1
The trip starts in Elsinore, where there are ample overnight accommodations. Among other places, Elsinore Hostel, Elsinore Camping, a number of Bed and Breakfasts and hotels at various price ranges.
Look at the home page of the Elsinore Tourist Agency for this.
The first stop on the trip is:
Esrum Monastery
The monastery from the middle of the 12th century, but has now been turned into a modern museum, where the visitors will gain an exciting insight into the picture of the world and way of life of the Middle Ages.
Here you´ll find workshops, medieval markets, carriage rides and changing medieval themes.
If convenient go to Esrum Monastery’s own home page to see current themes and offers. See the side menu: Maps and links.
Esrum Monastery. |
North Zealand´s Summer Park
North Zealand´s Summer Park is an amusement park with countless imaginative amusements and activities. Among other things, indoor water complex, safari park, go cart track and remote-controlled boats.
After all these physical activities it is perhaps time to relax.
For this the nearby small seaside town, Gilleleje, is an obvious opportunity.
Gilleleje
Gilleleje is one of North Zealand´s well known bathing towns. The idyllic surroundings with the harbour and the tempting sand beach have attracted domestic and foreign tourists for more than a hundred years.
The magnificent view to Kullen on the other side of the Sound has also made Gilleleje popular.
Internationally Gilleleje is also known because it was one of the largest escape harbours for the Danish Jews during the Second World War. The attic of Gilleleje´s church was a place of refuge for app. 100 Danish Jews in October 1943. They were detected by the German occupying power and sent to German concentration camps.
You can choose to stay in Gilleleje for the evening and participate in the traditional ”mole rush” on the long mole. You can also drive on to scenic area ”Rusland” (Russia) and see the Rudolph Tegner Museum.
"Rusland" and Rudolph Tegner´s Museum
In one of North Zealand most beautiful landscapes called: "Rusland", you´ll see a strange sight. In the undulating landscape a massive bunker-like building appears. If you go inside, you´ll see a collection of sculptures with obvious references to Antiquity. The sculptor, Rudolph Tegner (1873-1950) paid for the building of the museum himself.
Several of the bronze sculptures you can see in Elsinore have been created by Tegner. For instance, the Dancers´ spring just north of Elsinore Shipyard and Heracles and the Hydra on the Kronborg quay in Elsinore harbour.
Day 2
The second day of the car trip offers castle visits, nature experiences and a visit to one of Denmark´s most famous art museums.
Frederiksborg Castle
The impressive renaissance castle was built in the beginning of the 17th century and is one of the most outstanding buildings from the reign of Christian 4.
Today the castle houses the National History Museum, Frederiksborg Castle, with a fascinating interior, an extensive collection of paintings and a large collection and portraits. The impressive baroque garden has been re-established and if you have time, you can end the visit with a sail on the castle lake with the ship M/F Frederiksborg.
Frederiksborg Castle |
Fredensborg Castle
A short drive from the castle you will find:
The small castle is from the 1720´s. The beautiful baroque castle royal residence today and the crown prince couple lives in the Chancellery House.
Fredensborg Castle |
Fredensborg Falconer Estate
Close by you will find:
The Falconer Estate is a unique place, if you want to experience how people and birds of prey have worked together since the Middle Ages in the hunt for tasty meal. Children and adults will be in close contact with the royal birds of the sky
From here the trip continues to the internationally known Louisiana Museum for Modern Art in Humlebæk.
Louisiana Art Museum
Louisiana is one of Denmark’s most attended art museums. It is beautifully situated in a park with sculptures and a fantastic panorama view of the Sound and Scania. The view can also be enjoyed from the cafeteria and the terrace.
The museum exhibits contemporary art from the world and the children may be creative in the museum´s marvellous children´s house.
Day 3
The third day of the car trip starts with the sail from Elsinore to Helsingborg. The trip nly lasts about 20 minutes with one of the large and well-appointed car ferries, which sail every 20 minutes!
This day´s trip takes the family to see of Scania´s most beautiful nature resorts.
Kullen
Furthest out on the Kulla Peninsula is the nature reserve Kullaberg. The view and the dramatic landscape formations have attracted people and furthest out on the spit you will find the highest situated lighthouse. From the lighthouse you may follow a marked out path to the so-called”Silvergrottan”. The Danish king, Frederik II, who lived in the 16th century thought that he could extract silver from a lode, which was discovered in the rock. The Nordic 7 year war got in the way and they did not start the extraction until 1571. It turned out that the ore from the ”Silver Cut Hole” as it as called, did not contain any silver and the project was abandoned. It was a silver shining rock, pegmatit, they had found. When you are inside the cave, you´ll understand why they thought that the silver glinting walls contained precious metals.
Kullabygden |
Nimis
On the north coast of Kulllaberg at Skälderviken is Nimis, a colossal building made of driftwood, which the artist Lars Vilks has collected and used to create a quite peculiar construction. You can crawl through tunnels, climb small towers and wander around in this strange climbing frame. Reputedly they have used more than 160000 nails for this construction.
The path to Nimis is from Himmelstorp´s Hembygdsgård marked with ”N”. It takes app. an hour to walk there. You should realize that the trip will take you through hilly country and at times you will be very close to steep slopes!
Back at Hembygdsgården you can get coffee and cake at Himmelstorp´s cafè.
Ingelbo Moose Park
60 kilometres east of Helsingborg close to a small town called Västra Torup, is Sweden´s most southern park, Ingel Moose Park. Here you can see ”the king of the animals” and get very close to nature.
There are places to barbecue and overnight accommodations in the park´s ”Bed & Breakfast”.
A popular way to spend the night is”to live on a farm”.
Live on a farm
As a cosy and different form of night´s lodging we recommend that you try ”Live on a farm.”
It is usually popular with the families.Under Maps and links you will find a number of offers.
Dag 4
The fourth day of the car trip offers nature experiences in the area east of Helsingborg.
Handcar drive from Nybygget and Ljungbyhed
At the level crossing keeper’s house ”Lilla Kloster” on route13 you can order a special treat. You can go by handcar on the section between Nybygget and Ljungbyhed, a 13 kilometre return trip. The railway goes through scenic areas with lots of game and you can take a break anywhere you like. You just have to lift the handcar off the track. Övad Skog is a recommendable place to take a break. From here there is a 800 metres walk north to a relic of antiquity in a beech wood. As restaurants don´t grow on trees in this area, you should bring a packed lunch.
Dinoland in Nyvång
From a distance you see the enormous cinders heap at Nyvång´s old coal pit. Just next to it you will find Dinoland, which houses one the world´s greatest collections of full-scale dinosaur copies. We are lucky that the almost 30 metres long Tyrannosaurus Rex is just a copy and not a living creature. You can also walk to the view place on the cinders heap, visit a small amusement park for children, take the train through an adventure forest or practise driving a Go-Cart.
Påarp Birds Park
In Påarp just outside Helsingborg, is Sweden´s largest birds’ park. There are several hundred species from all over the world, for instance macaw, parakeets and cockatoo. The birds can fly around in a large aviary measuring 33 x 10 metres.
The birds’ park is a suitable outing for the whole family. The children can play in the garden, keen ornithologists and amateurs can gather around the aviaries and everybody can enjoy the famous Swedish coffee and cake.
There are overnight accommodations in connection with the birds’ park and you can also stay at a farm nearby.
Day 5
The car trip end with a day in Helsingborg.
Dropp In in Helsingborg
Dropp Inn is an experience centre with exciting activities for children and adults. The topic is water and you can perform different experiments. You can also use your time to blow bubbles and explore the many play opportunities
With light and audio games and computers as educational aid you can follow the ways of water in nature and towns.
Outside there are other opportunities. You can sail remote-controlled boats, drive electric cars og play in the adventure park.
Helsingborg´s Tropikarium
A few hundred metres north of Olympia, close to Frederiksdal, is the Tropikarium. Here you can see lemurs, anacondas, crocodile, scorpions, dwarf marmosets and much more. If you want an exciting zoological experience, you must visit the Tropikarium.
Väla Centre
It is easy to go to Väla, the largest shopping mall in north western Scania, a few miles out of town. More than a hundred shops and ample parking attracts customers every day from near and far.Map and Links
| | Here we offer a guide to a tour by car in the northern part of the Öresund Region.
Via the linkicon you can reach homepages, where you can get informations about prizes, booking etc.
If You click on "By car" in the left meny You will return to the guide. |
Esrum,s Monastery
| | In time the Esrum Monastery became the larges landowner in North Zealand. It grew into a large enterprise with many different products. It owned a large number of copyhold farms in North Zeland, but it also had properties in Scania and Halland. |
Esrum´s Monastery
Esrum Monastery in North Zealand was established as a Cistercienser monastery in 1151 and was linked to the main monastery Clairveaux in France, named after the reformer Bernard af Clairveaux. There are still faint traces of the monastery´s ideal situation on a flat stretch close to Esrum Lake and the stream, which furnished the monastery with drinking water and water power. Esrum Monastery was favoured with gifts in the form of land and property from the start and in the course of the 13th century it developed into the largest land owner in North Zealand.
Esrum Monastery. | 
The Waterway | 
Esrum´s Location | 
Bernard of Clairvaux |
Bryde- and Copyhold Farms
In the first period until the middle of the 13th century, production on the large breeding farms were emphasized. These were the so-called grangiers, which was worked by the monks and the lay brothers of the monasteries. They primarily functioned as the monastery´s workers and did not participate fully in the monastery life. The lay brother arrangement was probably also a safeguard against poverty in times with plenty of labour.
Cistercians order did not pay tithe and the earth that the monks inherited and cultivated was exempt for taxes, which made the grangie system profitable. From around the middle of the 13th century it became hard to find labour and they started to dismantle the grangiers in favour of bryde farms, farms with bailiffs and affiliated smallholders. Around this time an internal regulation was abolished, which entailed that the land of the orders were not to be used for copyhold and after this they established copyhold farms.
The Cultivation Structure
The cultivation structure with bryde farms and the three furlong holding existed in the western part of North Zealand, Holbo Herred, where the best land was. In North Zealand there was a very varied production starting with a sort of forest agriculture, where the distinction between farm land and forest was vague and hay harvest and grazing played a major part.
Studies of Esrum Monastery´s Land Book from 1497 shows that more peasants did villeinage with hay harvest than with harvest of corn and the straw after the corn harvest must have been mixed with weeds and nourishing for the widespread livestock. Moreover mast production for pigs and timber felling also played a major part.
Production and Food
The composition of the natural produce and the situation of the monasteries in North Zealand show that the vegetable production dominates the northern and western parts, while the animal production dominates around Nødebo near Esrum Lake, where there were stretches of meadow land for grazing around the lake. Firewood and fish also play a part around Hornbæk. It is difficult from the source material to say anything precise about conditions of life nutrition, but one source the Scanian so-called ledingsret, gives an indirect picture of the composition of the food.
Esrum´s Production |
The Possessions of the Monastery
The possessions of the monastery stretched as far as the Sound Coast, where the utilization of water power for the mills took place around the present Egebæksvang.
However, the monastery´s possessions did not end in Zealand alone. Besides the 311 copyold farms, the monastery also owned an unknown number of farms in Scania. Moreover the monastery also owned a mill in Helsingborg and two stalls, which they had inherited. The interest in Halland related to timber, for instance oak, which as early as the 12th century was becoming scarce in Zealand.Gilleleje
| | Gilleleje is, besides a wonderful seaside resort and summer cottage area, also known for being one of the most important escape centres for the Danish Jews, who sought refuge in Sweden during the Second World War.
This wasn’t entirely without problems. The greatest tragedy took place in the loft in Gilleleje Church, where the Germans surrounded around 100 Danish Jews and took the to concentration camps in Germany. |
The Great Escape – Denmark
Thousands of Danes fled to Sweden in october 1943 across the Sound. Many from Gilleleje, Elsinore, Snekkersten and Espergærde.
The Escape Across the Sound |
Before October 1943
Shortly after the occupation the German occupying power banned travels between the Scandinavian countries. It was necessary to apply for a visa, which the Danes were to administer, but under German control. At the same time a Danish coast police was established to patrol the eastern Danish waters from Hundested in the north to Gedser in the south. The Danish marine was to control the adjacent waters.
From when Denmark was occupied April 9th 1940 to August 1943 only few refugees came from Denmark to Sweden. Partly because of the relative peaceful circumstances in Denmark, but also because of Sweden´s restrictive refugee policies. It appears from Swedish police reports that the Swedish policy of neutrality towards the strong and victorious Germany meant that they often sent the refugees back to Denmark.
The Coast Police |
Vendepunktet (Overskriften skal oversættes til engelsk)
After a series of intense events August 29th 1943 in connection with the resignation of the Danish government and the internment of the Danish military, the number of refugees in September increased to 609, of which 61 were Jews. The rest was first and foremost military persons, resistance people, stateless persons, policemen, but also some unemployed and adventurers, who fled from the blacked out and restriction-ridden Denmark.
Flygtningestrømmen vokser (Rubrikken skal oversættes til engelsk)
The internment of the Danish army, the hostage-taking and the increasing tit-for-tat murders led to a marked increase in the refugee stream to Sweden in the course of the month of September. A number of artists and intellectuals, among them quite a few Jews, began to see the writing on the wall and arrange the crossing to the neutral Sweden.
The nuclear physicist Niels Bohr crossed September 30th, the same day as the architects Poul Henningsen and Arne Jacobsen escaped from Skodsborg together with girlfriends and a fifth party, Herbert Marcus, who was also an oarsman. The boat had been collected by a Falck van in the Bagsværd Lake, as it was prohibited to have smaller vessels less than five kilometres from the coast. It was a dramatic crossing in an overloaded boat, which was unsuitable for that type of transport. Arne Jacobsen was of Jewish origin, and Poul Henningsen was on the list of the tit for tat murders, but he did not know that at the time. They both reached Stockholm, where they spent the rest of the war.
October 2. 1943: The Mass Escape of the Danish Jews
Dette tekstafsnit skal oversættes til engelsk fra Staffan eller Stigs tekst.
Werner Best | 
Duckwitz |
The Hunts for The Jews
The night between October first and second 1943 the Germans started a hunt for the Jews in Denmark with the object of sending them to the concentration camp Theresienstadt in the protectorate Bohemia-Moravia, the present Czech Republic. Officially the Germans explained in the daily press that the Jews were to blame for the disturbances in August. In order to compensate they simultaneously released the disarmed Danish soldiers.
The result was that 234 Jews were apprehended. The raid had follow ups in October and November, where an additional 190 Jews were apprehended. They were deported and 53 of them died in the camp. Most of them old and sick.
Concentration Camps in Europe | 
Theresienstadt | 
Martin Nielsen |
Sverige ändrar inställning
In the light of the events in August the Swedish state re-evaluated its policy of neutrality. October 2nd Sweden announced publicly that they would receive the Danish Jews as refugees. In close cooperation with – especially the Scanian authorities and administration, a number of privately based, illegal escape routes along the entire Zealand east coast were established.
The Civilian Resistance
The persecution of the Jews became a turning point for many Danes in their attitude towards the German occupying power. The close integration of the Danish Jews in the Danish society meant that the racial policy of Nazism offended the sense of justice of many Danish citizens. A larger number of the population now resisted actively; often citizens, who had no affiliation with the existing part of the resistance movement, who mostly were connected to the Communist Party and the Dansk Samling party.
In Copenhagen the students went on strike and some of them organized a collection of money, which came to very large sums: Approximately 1 million kroner, which in 1993 correspond to 20 million kroner.
Escape Routes
Thousands of Jewish fellow citizens from Copenhagen made for the Sound coast, where there was total chaos for the first few days with regards to the organisation of this migration. Escape routes sprung up and at first without mutual connections.
In Stockholm the Danish architect, Ole Helweg took the initiative for a meeting with the Swedish foreign minister and Ebbe Munck, who was the representative of the Danish resistance movement in Sweden, and with the help of Jewish circles in Sweden a boat was provided, which sailed from Malmo and this became the beginning of the Danish-Swedish refugee service, which was to sail 367 trips with refugees.
Very different people started separately or in groups to organize escape routes from the metropolitan area to the Swedish coast. Most came over from Copenhagen itself, but also from Gilleleje on the north coast and Snekkersten south of Elsinore were for a period of time became veritable escape centres.
From Where? | 
Ebbe Munch |
Vellykket redningsaktion (Rubrik oversættes til engelsk)
The result was that the vast majority of Denmark´s, approximately 95% 7000 Jews in the course of October crossed over to safety on the other side of the Sound. Approximately 2-3000 directly from Copenhagen, where 80% of the Jews lived.Frederiksborg Castle
| | Frederiksborg Castle was originally built in the time of Frederik 2., but in the 17th century Chr. 4.started an extensive rebuilding and made his own mark on the castle.
In the 1720´s Frederik 4. established an impressive Baroque garden, which was the only one that escaped being turned into a Romantic garden.
In 1996 the original overgrown Baroque garden was re-established. |
He continued in his father´s steps and continued building in North Zealand, and began around 1600 a rebuilding of Frederiksborg Castle, so it had a more uniform look. The large castle was finished in 1626. If Kronborg appeared as a closed fortification, Frederiksborg Castle had a large open courtyard, where the fountain and the surrounding buildings gave a more open, more representative and modern impression.
But the castle had simultaneously lost its significance as a fortification and instead functioned as a magnificent frame for the royal power.
Like Frederik II built his summer castle near Kronborg, Christian IV built a house next to Frederiksborg Castle, which was called ”Sparepenge” and even ”The Bath”, where it was more comfortable and informal to stay.
Frederiksborg is built in Dutch renaissance with towers and spires with richly decorated house ends.
Frederiksborg Castle | 
Frederiksborg Castle | 
The Audience Gate | 
Iron Grating | 
FrdgSlot |
Renaessance Style
Frederiksborg is built in Dutch renaissance with towers and spires with richly decorated house ends.In the time of Christian IV the characteristic mixture of red bricks and decorative sandstone bands, which is seen on many of the royal and noble buildings of the time, was developed. Like Frederik II built his summer castle near Kronborg, Christian IV built a house next to Frederiksborg Castle, which was called ”Sparepenge” and even ”The Bath”, where it was more comfortable and informal to stay.
Frederiksborg Castle | 
The Summer House | 
The Trinity Church |
Frederiksborg´s Baroque Garden
As early as 1702 the king considered removing Sparepenge and the garden to make use of the slanting terrain on the other side of the castle lake in order to lay out a larger baroque garden. In 1720 he starts to realize his plans. Sparepenge is demolished and some of the stones from here are used to build Fredensborg Castle. In the years 1720-25 the new garden is laid out according to the designs of the architect Johan Cornelius Krieger.
The garden is 100x 400 metres, laid out in three levels on the sloping terrain. The left side of the garden is concentrated in a mid axis, which is formed by a water cascade. The garden around this axis planted symmetrically, where the low parterre-beds on the first step consist of varied royal monograms.
Frederiksborg Palace Garden | 
The surroundings of Frederiksborg Palace |
Oversæt
OversætFredensborg Castle
| | After the end of the Great Nordic war in 1720 it seemed that Denmark had finally given up the thought of getting the Scanian countries back. Anyhow the desire for peace was so great that when the king built a new residence between Frederiksborg and Kronborg, he chose to call it Fredensborg (Fred = peace). According to tradition it was money, which was earmarked for the war that was used to the building activities. |
The European Big Powers Dominated
At the peace after the Great Nordic War in 1720 the two double kingdoms Denmark-Norway and Sweden-Finland almost an even match, but they were also reduced to pawns in the international game, which was dominated by the European big powers France, England, Holland and eventually Russia and the German area (Prussia), where unification efforts picked up speed in the course of the 18th century.
Fredensborg a Peace Symbol
It seemed that Denmark had given up on the idea of getting the Scanian countries back. The wish for peace is so great that the king chose to call his new residence Frederiksborg and Kronborg Fredensborg and according to tradition it was the money, which was meant for the war that was spent on the building.
Where Fredensborg Castle now is there used to be a hunting property or country house called Østrupgård, where king Frederik IV used to spend his time instead of the ostentatious Frederiksborg Castle. In 1719, when it was possible to see an end to the Great Nordic War, the king had a lime kiln built, cleared roads and forests as a preparation for a building on the spot. The main building was finished in 1722 and the new building was named Fredensborg, which referred to the peace after the great war. Originally the idea was to have a statue on the lantern of the dome of the peace goddess.
Fredensborg Castle | 
View from the Park |
The Adapted Renaissance Style
The original design consisted of the impressive main building with a dome hall, which also made up one side of an octagonal layout, which was built under the later master builder J.C. Krieger, who at the time was a gardener at the orangery in Rosenborg Garden.
The model was perhaps Marly, the French King´s pleasure castle, which the Danish king had seen on the first of his journeys abroad in 1691-92. Externally the castle did not resemble the over decorated French style. The smooth wall surfaces of Fredensborg are found again in Frederiksberg Castle. Only the broad window casings with the overlying frontons work decoratively, but they look most of all like the window casings in Kronborg, which is Renaissance style and does not have much in common with the over decorated Italian Baroque.
The adapted Renaissance style is quite unique and somewhat resembles the style of Stockholm Castle, which was built by the famous Swedish architect Nicodemus Tessin the younger. Most likely the inspiration had gone via the later master builder Johan Conrad Ernst, who was with Tessin in Stockholm to study for the construction of a residence castle, which Christian V wanted to build in the Amalienborg Garden in Copenhagen. In this way the building of Fredensborg Castle was a testimony to the cultural exchange between the two countries in spite of the war and controversy.
The Original Draft | 
Doors and Windows |
The Influence of Jardin
After the building of Fredensborg in 1773 almost all the important architects of the century came in contact with the building in connection with expansions and changes, which fortunately enough did not spoil the original character of the castle. Late, but no least, the French architect, N.H. Jardin was involved in plans for a comprehensive rebuilding of the main building of the castle and the garden, which was reorganized over a number of years from 1759-68.
The most of the other projects were dropped when the king around 1762 needed more money for armament because of a conflict with Russia.
Fredensborg 1729 | 
Jardin´s plan 1760 | 
The Normand Valley |
Kullen
| | Kullen is the name of the mountain in the Kulla peninsula in north western Scania.
The outermost tip of Kullen bounds the Sound from the Kattegat.
The area around Kullen, the Kullabygden, became a popular outing for the tourists of the 19th century and the small fishing villages Arild and Mølle became tourist attractions.
The Kullabygden is often referred to as ”The Scanian Riviera". |
Kullen-Arild and Mølle
The beautiful and dramatic landscape on the lengthy Kulla Mountain (Kullaberg)in Scania , was, as early as the 19th century, a popular recreational area for summer guests from both sides of the Sound.
The painters were the first to feel attracted to the romantic nature, but quickly the men of letters followed, and later on the area became a popular recreational area for the more wealthy part of the population. The old fishing villages, Arild and Mølle, in the vicinity of the western and eastern area became, with their picturesque small houses and their proximity to the water, a popular recreational area.
The Kulla mountain (Kullaberg) is only 187 metres high, but the fact that it rises directly up from the sea makes the terrain formation dramatic. The mountain itself is only 16 kilometres long and at most places only 2 kilometres wide. At the extreme end the mountain ends with a steep slope.
The steep slops of Kullen towards the dangerous sea on both sides and the many caves, have, from time immemorial, naturally created the providede the breeding ground for countless legends and myths.
Kullen by the Sea | 
The Silver Cave from the Outside | 
A Cave with a Wiew | 
The Silver Cave |
Palnatoke´s Skiing and the Kullen Man
During Romanticism the interesest for the old Nordic legends awoke. Some of them are linked to Kullaberg. As early as 1809 Adam Oehlenschläger wrote the tragedy ”Palnatoke” and thus gave life to Saxo´s story of the old Danish legendary figure. Palnatoke had, to prove her prowess in skiing to Harald Bluetooth, taken a downhill race down Kullen´s slopes. (An achievement many Danes in a somewhat smaller scale try to imitate today by doing risky mountain climbs).
In his book “Valdemar Sejr” Bernhard Severin Ingemann told of "Kullamannen", (The Kulla Man), who told the future of the Valdemar Sejr´s sons.
The Kullen man was part nature being and part an authentic historic person in Kullen. According to tradition it is supposedly a knight by the name of Thord Knutsson Bonde.
Palnatoke´s Slope |
The Roamntic Names of the Kulla Mountain
The national and nature romantic interest is evident in the names of the rock formations and caves on Kullaberg. They were named in the latter part of the 19th century. For example Kullamannens grav (the Kulla Man´s Grave), Valdemarsgrotten (The Valdemar Cave) and Palnatokes skrænt (Palnatoke´s Slope), not to mention the beautiful-sounding names: Kaprifoliegrottan, Paradiset, Josefinelust, and Silvergrotten. Josefinelust is named after Oskar I:s wife Josefin, who visited the place.
Josefinelust | 
The Josefinelust Cave |
Arild, Early Artist Community
On Kullaberg´s east side we find the old fishing village Arild with a view of Skälderviken, Bjärehalvön and Kattegat. The pleasant climate, the romantic and idyllic atmosphere with the remote fishing village and the light from the sea contributed and still does to the attracting power of the place.
As early as the 1830´s a number of Scandinavian painters were fascinated by the beauty of Arild´ss landscape and eventually they created a fertile artists´ environment, where among others the two prominent landscape painters , the Dane Frederik Christian Kiaerskou and the Norwegian Adolf Tidemand had their easels put up.
Arild | 
Oversættes | 
Arild-Fishermen | 
Arild´s Harbour 2006 |
Mother Cilla
In the middle of the 19th century Arild had a popular centre for thetown´s fishermen and the visiting artists and summer guests. That was the energetic and outspoken Cecilia Andersson, who converted her big home into an inn, which she called Mother Cilla.
The house still exists in a completely changed rebuilding, but was then a centre for artistic activity and socializing. A sort of forerunner of the famous Brøndum´s Hotel in the Skaw.
Among the artists was also Natanael Beskow., who portrayed Mother Cilla in September 1891 on one of the doors in the hotel. The portrait is still there. The tradition of artists paying the host with paintings, was quite alien to Mother Cilla. She wanted money on the table. The story doesn´t say anything about whether an exception was made in the Beskow´s case!
Mother Cilla´s status as the uncrowned queen of the fishing village in the 1890´s, was finally established, when King Oscar II visited Arild in 1894. The lunch was taken at Mother Cilla´s. At the head of the table sat the king and his partner, well, Mother Cilla, of course!
Mor Cilla | 
Hotel Mother Cilla | 
The Visit of Oskar II | 
Royal Letter |
Danish Artists in Arild
Peter Severin Kröyer, who became one of the most renowned Skaw painters, stayed in Arild as early as 1872 and revisited the place in 1881 and 1885. Some of his works from here can be seen at the Skaw Museum.
The naturalistic drawings of the poor fishing village´s population show the tendency to move away from the former period´s romantic depictions.
Another frequent summer guest among the artists was Viggo Pedersen, who also established and managed an artists´ school. The number of Danish Arild artists were large and August Jerndorff and Bernhard Middelboe also deserves a mention.
When you consider how many of the Danish artists, who gathered in Arild, Hornbæk and the Skaw, it is clear that it is the small fishing villages, which often created the inspiration.
P.S.Krøyer | 
Mother Cilla | 
Girl from Arild | 
Shoemaker in Arild |
Swedish Artists in Arild
The Swedish artists also came to Arild and Mother Cilla, but they came later than the Danes. Carl Fredrik Hill visited Arild in 1870, 72 and 73, but most Swedes didn´t arrive until some years into the 1880´s. Richard Bergh, who later became the head of Sweden´s National Museum, came to Arild for the first time in 1884, Gustaf Cederström arrived on his first summer visit in 1887. Fritz von Dardel was in Arild in1891, where he made a drawing from Mother Cilla´s 65th birthday. The most frequent guest was Gustaf Rydberg, who lived in Arild every summer from 1889 to 1909.
Many female artists were productive in Arild. Elisabeth Keyser lived here for several summers in the 1890´s and even established a painters´school. Emilia Lönblad lived in Arild in 1891 and 1892. Sophie Stiernstedt became a summer resident in 1901. A local talent was Gisela Trapp, who in her young years (the middle of the 1890´s) came to Arild to paint. She was married to Oscar Trapp, one of the consuls of Helsingborg, and she eventually became important in the area. She was deeply religious and had a Catholic chapel built in her garden in the western part of Arild. It was finished in 1921 and is still used by the Catholic Church.
Without mentioning all the Swedish and foreign painters, who came to Arild, it can be seen as an early centre of outdoor painting and can be compared to the Skaw.
Mother Cilla´s 65th birthday | 
Viking Style Arild | 
Bo Folkvi |
The Kulla Village – A Cultural Melting Pot
It was not only the advocates of Romanticism and the painters, who found a place where they could breathe freely in the Kullen area´s dramatic and romantic nature. You could also meet culture figures with quite a different understanding of the life.
Georg Brandes stayed in Mølle in 1890, for example. August Strindberg described a visit to Mölle and to Kullen in his "Legends". However, it was mostly his soul and his troubles he depicted here, while Selma Lagerlöf ten years later was more occupied with Kullen´s animated nature in her: "Niels Holgerssons Wonderful Journey Through Sweden". Selma Lagerlöf lived in Mölle in the summer 1906 with Sophie Elkan.
Hjalmar Söderberg met the Dane Emelie Voss during his stay in Mölle in 1907 and was cheered up after his failed marriage.
Further on in the 20th century Vilhelm Ekelund, Ivar Lo Johansson, Anders Österling and Ola Hansson visited the Kulla Village for longer or shorter periods of time.
Ablahamn | 
Hotel Kullaberg | 
The Tourist Hotel Mölle |
Mølle – The Seaside Resort
Mölle gradually became the real tourist magnet. Everybody was talking of the ”shameless Mölle", where men and women bathed together! The fact that Mölle was one of the first places in Europe with such a frank behaviour did not go down well with som of the Mölle inhabitants. When they were out of town they often said that they came from Arild where such risqué behaviour was unheard of.
Oskar II:s visit in 1894 in Arild and Mølle and Emperor Wilhelm´s landing in 1907 became the highlight and a proof of the area´s attracting power. Oscar scratched his name in one of the caves in Kullen, which later was named ”the Oscar Cave”.
Mölle by the Sea | 
The two sexes in bath | 
Beach Nymph | 
Ransvik |
Berlin - Mølle
In the first decades of the 20th century Mølle´s tourism grew intensely. A new train connection between Mølle and Höganäs, which was opened in 1909, was a deciding factor in area´s transformation into southern Sweden´s first and largest tourist area. The international status of Mølle was underlined with a direct train connection between Berlin and Mølle.
Tourists in Mölle | 
Viking Style Mølle |
The White Mølle
Mølle´s attraction gradually, especially after the turn of the century, occasioned the building of a number of hotels. Hotel Kullaberg, Hotell Elfverson, Turisthotellet and Grand Hotel, for example. But even before the prime of the hotes, a number of houses had their own local characteristic. The typical Mølle house had a high base floor with a scullery and on this was the apartment itself. The houses are white and that colour is still typical of the houses in Mølle.
Mölle – The White Town | 
Mølle 2003 | 
Attractive tourist area |
The Tourist Hotel Mölle |
Hotel Kullaberg |
Kullen´s Old Lighthouse
The outermost part of Kullaberg borders the Sound from Kattegat, but also the land from the sea in a very marked way. For centuries the dramatic landscape has fascinated man and made it a popular resort. But the promontory, which juts out into the sea, has always been a danger for ships. This is why they early on decided to warn the ships with a lighthouse. In 1561 they laid out a lighthouse place ordered by Frederik II. It was improved two years later with a brick tower.
The lighthouse keeper in charge was Tycho Brahe, who later on fell from favour with Christian 4. because he was accused of having neglected his assignment.
The earliest picture known of the lighthouse is drawn by the Dutchman, Simon Frisius in 1615, when he sailed between Holland and Russia. In the next centuries the lighthouse has been rebuilt several times.
Kullen´s Lighthouse |
Kullen´s Present Lighthouse – an Idea from the 19th Century.
Kullen´s present lighthouse is only 15 metres high, but as a shining crown on the top of the majestic rock it is still a magnificent sight. The light source is 78,5 metres above the sea and thus one of the highest situated in Sweden.
In 1898 the authorities accepted the designs for the present lighthouse. The architect was Magnus Dahlander from Dalarne. They started building in 1899, and the new lighthouse opened in the year 1900. At this time they also delivered the lens instrument, which still rotates in the lighthouse.
The lenses, which increased the light source were the result of research by the French physicist and engineer August Frensel (1788-1827). He had studied how light is refracted through different lenses and established here that if you place the light source in focus in a burning-glass, the beams are refracted, so they radiate from the lens in parallel. The discovery was made as early as 1822. They were now able to construct lenses, which reinforced the light much more efficently than the old paraboloidal reflectors.
The first Frensel lens was put in the famous French lighthouse Cordouan on the Frech west coast in1823. But t wasn´t until the end of the century that the Paris company Barbier & Barnard could deliver the new construction to the lighthouse in Kullen.
The lens instrument was at the time the largest in Sweden with its three large lenses. It was rotated with clockwork and a weight, which was used until 1937.
The light source itself was electrified in 1907 with a 1000 watts bulb, which gave and still gives the strongest flash in Scandinavia every 5th second.
Kullens Lighthouse | 
Kullen´s Lighthouse – A Place with a View | 
The Lenses | 
The Light Source | 
The Lighthouse´s Old Weight |
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