Gamleborg
| Gamleborg | |
|---|---|
 Castle wall from the west |
|
| Creation time : | 9th century |
| Castle type : | Wallburg |
| Conservation status: | ruin |
| Place: | Bornholm |
| Geographical location | 55 ° 6 '49 " N , 14 ° 54' 23" E |
Gamleborg is a hill fort on Bornholm in Denmark .
location and size
Gamleborg Castle covers an area of 2.5 hectares and is located almost exactly in the middle of Bornholm on a slightly uneven, 21 m high plateau in the forest of Almindingen , the largest forest on Bornholm. The nearest town is the town of Aakirkeby, 6 km south . The castle extends 270 m from north to south and 110 m from east to west.
history
Gamleborg is the oldest stone building on Bornholm. Today it is assumed that Gamleborg was built in the 9th century at the time of the Vikings and was not just a refuge , but was permanently inhabited. Archaeological research found glass beads and jewelry from the 9th century as well as loom weights, horseshoes and stirrups from the 11th century. Traces of a major fire from the Viking Age were also discovered, but no evidence of fighting or fires from later centuries. In the 9th century, all of Bornholm fell to Denmark. It is possible that Gamleborg became the mansion, which the central location of the castle would suggest. That during archaeological excavations u. a. Glass beads and other jewelry was found, could indicate that the residents of the castle belonged to the upper class of the population. Around 1100 the castle was reinforced in the west by a 2 m thick and up to 6 high wall, the south gate was bricked up and replaced by a granite gate with mortar in the south-west of the castle, in front of which there was possibly a drawbridge. Gamleborg was abandoned around 1150, and it was around this time that the nearby Lilleborg Castle was built.
Castle complex
Architecturally, the Gamleborg is reminiscent of the Wallburg Borge and the Torsburg on Gotland . The main thing that has been preserved is the 275 m long and up to 6 m high castle wall made of rubble stones and smaller boulders , which was built in the west of the complex and on which palisades may have been . On the other sides, the castle was not limited by a wall, as there are steep slopes there that formed natural protection. The moat that goes around the castle is still clearly visible today. In the north of the complex, at the highest point of the castle, the main gate has been preserved, next to which the remains of a square tower were discovered. Another, younger granite gate has been preserved in the south-west of the castle, where a drawbridge was possibly located. The exact location of the residential buildings inside the castle, which is now covered by dense vegetation, is still unknown today. However, the location of a water point in the northwest of the walled area is still clearly visible today.
Surroundings
The younger Lilleborg Castle is less than a kilometer away. The well-known and much visited Echotal Ekkodalen is located in the Almindingen forest near Gamleborg Castle .
A second Gamleborg is to the east in the Paradiesbakkerne (near Gryet ).
literature
- Ingrid Falktoft Anderson: Vejviser til Danmarks oldtid . 1994, ISBN 87-89531-10-8 , pp. 343ff
- Karsten Kjer Michaelsen: Politics bog om Danmarks oldtid . Copenhagen 2002 ISBN 87-567-6458-8 , p. 220
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kristoffer Holm Pedersen: Turen går til Bornholm. 7. udgave. Politics Forlag, Copenhagen 2015, ISBN 978-87-400-1325-2 , p. 114.
- ^ Søren Olsen: Oplev Bornholm og Christiansø. 2. udgave. Hovedland, Gjern 2015, ISBN 978-87-7070-484-7 , p. 141.
- ^ Kristoffer Holm Pedersen: Oplev Bornholm og Christiansø. 2. udgave. Hovedland, Gjern 2015, ISBN 978-87-7070-484-7 , p. 140.
- ↑ Information board at the north gate of the castle (in Danish)
- ^ Jürgen E. Rohde: Bornholm (= polyglot travel guide. 904). 5th edition. Polyglott-Verlag, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-493-60904-3 , p. 57.
