City miniatures – Odense in 988 and 1593
At Sankt Knuds Plads, you can see Odense at two points in time, around 600 years apart. The two bronze models show the city in 988 and 1593 and make it easier to imagine how early Odense developed. Look for Nonnebakken, the churches and the old street layouts – and compare them with the city around you.
Two views of Odense
One model offers a research-based reconstruction of Odense in the Viking Age, while the other shows the city more than 600 years later, when it had become far more densely built up.
Several of the old street layouts can still be recognised in the city centre today, and the models make it easier to see how Odense grew around them.
Odense in 988
In the late 10th century, Odense was not yet a densely built-up town. Archaeological finds suggest that the settlement developed on the headland north of the Odense River, where both pit houses and longhouses stood. South of the river was Harald Bluetooth’s ring fortress at Nonnebakken.
There are no contemporary maps of Viking Age Odense. The 988 model is therefore based on archaeological finds, historical sources and scholarly interpretation. It offers a well-founded reconstruction of the town that was beginning to take shape around Odins Vi.
Odense in 1593
In the second model, Odense has become a densely built-up town with a cathedral, churches, town gates, houses, workshops, merchants’ houses and other prominent buildings.
The model is based primarily on Braun & Hogenberg’s view of Odense from 1593, supplemented by archaeological finds and other historical sources. This gives a far more detailed picture of the town than we can reconstruct from the Viking Age.
Follow the traces
If you would like to explore more of the places shown in the 988 model, follow the Viking route through Odense to Nonnebakken, the old street layouts, churches and other traces of the early town.
Last updated by:VisitOdensejmjen@odense.dk
