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By Maxwell Orme Johnson
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| Golden evenings: island homes
winding to the sea. |
Perhaps the crown jewel of Denmark is Bornholm,
a small island in the Baltic Sea, closer to Germany
and Sweden than to Denmark, all but unknown to most
Americans. Some writers have likened Bornholm to
a Danish version of Martha's Vineyard, but the reality
is much more than that. It is one of Scandinavia's
(if not Europe’s) better-kept secrets, a special
time-warped island of light and peacefulness unlike
any other place in the world.
Bornholm’s rich history, dating back at least
5,000 years, can be traced through Bronze Age relics,
rock engravings and monoliths. Scattered throughout
the island are several ancient burial mounds and
Viking rune stones, or inscribed memorials, which
rise from the earth, heralding a fierce past somewhere
in time before written history.
In more recent history, the fate of Bornholm followed
the wars between Sweden and Denmark for supremacy
in Scandinavia. In 1658, when it appeared likely
that the island might become a permanent part of
Sweden, the Swedish commandant of Bornholm was murdered
in an uprising by fiercely independent Bornholm
rebels, led by Jens Kofoed, who is revered as the
George Washington of Bornholm.
To add insult to injury, the Bornholm rebels tore
down the commandant’s fort at Hammershus, which
is both a shrine and testimony to Bornholm’s
anarchist streak. From that day until now, with
the exception of Nazi Germany’s occupation
during World War II and a brief Soviet occupation
lasting until the spring of 1946 (which many Bornholmers
still talk about, as the island was actually behind
the Iron Curtain for nearly a year), the island
has remained proudly, even fiercely independent,
some claim independent even of the present day Danish
government.
There are several ways to reach Bornholm, including
flights by Maersk Air, a combination of train and
a new fast ferry through Ystad, Sweden, a ferry
from Rugen, Germany for the many visitors from Berlin
and elsewhere in Germany, and also a ferry from
Poland.
But the time-honored tradition is the overnight
ferry service run by Bornholmstraffiken, operating
from the docks of Copenhagen to Ronne, the capital
city of Bornholm. With both private cabins and hundreds
of dormitory style beds for the backpackers and
cyclists who frequent Bornholm in the months of
good weather, the overnight passage harks back to
a time before television and stressful lifestyles.
On particularly good weekends, every inch of free
space on the weather decks is filled with backpackers
in their sleeping bags, happy to travel at less
than steerage class.
Bornholm is 227 square miles, with a population
of approximately 44,000 people, a mecca for cyclists
and backpackers, with excellent bike trails throughout
the island. Bornholm is also for those who are simply
looking for serenity in an unspoiled landscape.
Many of those use the excellent bus system, Bornholms
Amt Trafikselskab or BAT, run by the affable Jorgen
Hammer. Hammer is also an authority on the history
of Bornholm, particularly the round churches.
A unique feature of Bornholm is its four 12th century
round, whitewashed churches (Rundkirke), constructed
with two-meter thick walls, topped by black-shingled,
conical roofs. Hammer happily recounts to visitors
to Nykirk, the round church next to his home that
this distinct form of fortified religious architecture
dates from the early Middle Ages, when Wend pirates
from eastern Germany frequently raided the island.
The churches served as a secure location for the
inhabitants of the surrounding villages and farms
to seek shelter, safe from the marauding pirates.
The sight of a church turret with gun sight openings,
from which the defenders would shoot at the marauders,
is rather arresting at first, but this enabled these
churches to be both places of worship and fortress
havens of safety, thus ensuring the survival of
generations of Bornholmers.
Topographically, Bornholm features rolling wheat
fields and thick forests in the center, while the
rugged coastline is dotted with small fishing villages
and dangerous sea cliffs. It is quite rocky at its
northern end (two-thirds of the island is granite),
where purple heather blooms in August and Sept.
To the south, the landscape becomes gently rolling,
fertile farmland punctuated by thirteen tall windmills
and several smaller ones, with powdery white sand
beaches along the southern coast. Its topography
has enabled geologists to fix Bornholm’s age
quite accurately.
Most of the population resides in dozens of small
charming towns along the coast, like Svaneke and
Gudhjem (which means "God's Home"), whose
red, yellow, green, blue and white half-timbered
houses crowd down slopes to the water's edge. If
one were limited to but one stop, it would have
to be in Svaneke, whose unblemished, seemingly timeless
beauty is the result of strict architectural controls,
causing the visitor to feel as if he had stepped
through a time warp back into the 18th century.
In 1975, these preservation efforts were rewarded
with the prestigious Council of Europe’s Gold
Medal of Town Preservation.
Yet Svaneke is hardly a museum piece like Williamsburg
or Sturbridge, but a living vibrant village of small,
multi-windowed houses with a lively Saturday market,
which, as was once the case in small town rural
America, is as much social as it is commerce.
While in Svaneke, a must visit is to one of the
traditional herring smokehouses. These unique structures
with multiple smokestacks can be found in most of
the villages along the coastline, which have for
centuries been dependent on the fishing industry
as a major, and until quite recently, its only source
of revenue. The walk-in fireplaces seem to be pyramid
shaped from the outside, but then narrow into the
tall chimneys.
The origins of smoked herring are lost in the mists
of time, but the results are memorable. The early
morning catch is taken directly to the smokehouse,
where the silver herring are gutted and strung on
racks to dry in the open air, then placed over smoldering
alder wood and left in the fireplaces until they
turn gold. Their reputation as a delicacy is so
great that they are known throughout Scandinavia
and Germany as Bornholmers. Nothing beats eating
one still warm from the smokehouse.
Leaving Svaneke, one heads north along the coastal
road towards Gudhjem to visit a village of artists
and artisans, many of whom have come there from
Copenhagen to escape the city life and to work in
the nearly surreal light, the special magic of Bornholm.
Just before reaching Gudhjem, however, on the right
side of the road facing the water is Baltic Sea
Glass. It was founded by a young couple, Pete Hunner,
an American who as a military brat went to high
school in Wiesbaden, Germany, and Maibritt Jonsson,
a Swede, whom he met while studying art in Copenhagen.
In the 20 years that they have lived and worked
(and raised a family) on the island, they have built
their company into a highly successful artistic
and commercial venture, mixing a very special product
with proven marketing techniques. With customers
for their hand blown glass scattered all over the
world, they are now able to concentrate on singular
works of art.
Hunner is a renowned artist with the platform presence
of a P.T. Barnum, enthusiastically explaining the
intricate art of glassblowing even as he is fashioning
a beautiful one-off work of art with the assistance
of Jonsson. What is even more unusual is that, according
to a Copenhagen-born and bred visitor. Malene Grunwald,
Hunner speaks the secret language of Danish so well
that it is impossible to tell that he was not born
and bred in Denmark. Later, Hunner eagerly takes
a visitor around the showroom and studio, all the
while relating how he and Jonsson derive much of
their inspiration from nature and from the light
of Bornholm.
Outside their building a meadow dips to the rocky
beach where the coastline stretches as far as the
eye can see. Their pieces speak, as one writer eloquently
described, of water and sky, of wind, grass and
stone.
Perhaps its most compelling quality is the light
of Bornholm. For decades it has beckoned artists
and writers alike for its creative powers and its
inspiration. In recent years, Bornholm has come
to be a center of creative activity.
A personal favorite place to stay is the Badhotel
Melsted, a quiet oceanfront inn with comfortable
rooms overlooking the ocean. With no television
and no telephone (and no Internet connection) in
the rooms, it is the ideal peaceful getaway, the
perfect place to savor the sea and the fresh salt
air and the light and the serenity that is Bornholm.
The island's pure air and the crashing of the waves
against the rocky seashore ensure the weary traveler
gets a perfect night's sleep.
A few miles up the coast road from Gudhjem is Bornholm's
new Art Museum, showcasing the works of local painters
and craftsmen. Erected on a grassy slope overlooking
the Baltic, the unusual building has already acquired
an international reputation for the originality
of its design.
The museum director, Lars Kaerulf Møller,
is like a proud father, for it is he who cajoled
conservative Bornholmers into not only opening their
wallets to support the building of this museum,
but was able to push through its radical (for Bornholm)
design that is perfectly suited for its location
and its purpose. On each level there are separate
galleries, each with small, easily digestible rooms
containing works by Bornholm artists from the 19th
century to the present.
For the visitor interested in nature and how, over
several millennia, Bornholm came to be the special
place it is, one need only visit the new state-of-the-art
nature center, NaturBornholm, which opened in 2001.
It sits alone in a field almost in the geographical
center of Bornholm. To the surprise of many, the
center has been a huge success, not just for tourists
but also for dozens of school groups who come to
learn how the island was formed and how it has evolved
over the millennia. School children are fascinated
with the variety of hands-on exhibits, imaginative
displays that serve as learning tools that captivate
oldsters as well.
A visit to the center is intended as a journey
that starts with Bornholm's birth and winds up with
an examination of the island's flora and fauna,
covering a period of over a billion years. Yes,
a billion years, proven by the geological methods
of dating rock formations in the unique geology
of Bornholm.
As one slowly pulls away from the docks at Ronne,
the real world at the other end of the ferry ride
begins to intrude once again. But even the most
jaded traveler cannot help concluding that Bornholm
is indeed the crown jewel of Denmark, a special
time-warped island of light and peacefulness unlike
any other place in the world. But please share this
secret with only a few close friends. We who love
Bornholm want it to stay the way it is, a place
of light, magic and peace.
For more information: www.bornholminfo.dk
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