Nonnebakken

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Viking castle Nonnebakken
Detail of the Georg Braunius map from 1593

Detail of the Georg Braunius map from 1593

Alternative name (s): Nonnebakken
Creation time : Viking age
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: small wall remains, built over
Construction: Palisades, gates, ramparts (and ditches)
Place: Odense , Nonnebakken district
Geographical location 55 ° 23 '31 "  N , 10 ° 23' 21"  E Coordinates: 55 ° 23 '31 "  N , 10 ° 23' 21"  E
Nonnebakken (Denmark)
Nonnebakken

Nonnebakken was a Viking castle of the Trelleborg type , the remains of which have been examined in several excavations in the center of Odense since 1988. With a diameter of 120 meters, it was the same size as Fyrkat . Although only little has been superficially preserved due to the later construction activity in Odense, it is unusually well preserved. The palisade is preserved at almost 360 degrees up to a meter in height. At the same time, archaeological finds indicate settlement activities around the year 850.

Find history

The remains of the castle were found under the Nonnebakken district and excavated by the Fyns Museum. The castle was located south of the Odense Å river below the later built Benedictine monastery , which gave the site the name Nonnebakken (nuns' hill). Odense, first mentioned in 988, could probably be overlooked from the hill. The nuns left the site at the end of the 12th century to build a new monastery in Dalum, southeast of Odense, now a suburb, in 1197.

Around 1600 the ramparts seem to have been visible in the area: in a city view in the city atlas Civitates Orbis Terrarum (vol. 5, 1598, plate 30) by Georg Braun (1541–1622) and Frans Hogenberg (1535–1590) it is closed detect. The view was probably created in 1593 based on information provided by Heinrich Rantzau or based on sketches that he had arranged.

The complex suffered further destruction when the " Odd Fellows " lodge was built here at the end of the 19th century .

Excavations and finds

Although excavations and discoveries were made on the site as early as 1775 and 1889, the entire extent of the complex was not recorded until 1953. In 1988 a pointed trench at least 4.0 meters wide and 2.0 meters deep with a 10.0 to 12.0 meter wide berm was detected in cable excavations . The backfilling could be dated to the time of the monastery. A pointed ditch about 8.0 meters wide and 4.0 meters deep was cut in 1992 in the northeast and northwest.

During emergency excavations in the course of the district heating installation, a trench at least 3.0 meters deep and 11.0 meters wide was explored in 1995 and 1997/98. A spade made of oak was recovered. This could be dendrochronologically dated to the "functional time" of the system. During further investigations in 2002, parts of the monastery complex were recorded. The next excavation campaign started in 2015.

literature

  • Olaf Olsen:  Nonnebakken. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 21, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-017272-0 , pp. 267-269. (on-line)
  • John Kronborg Christensen: Vikingetidens langhuse på Trelleborg, Aggersborg, Fyrkat and Nonnebakken . Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole, Copenhagen 1973 (83 pages).
  • Henrik Thrane: Nonnebakken. Odenses forsvundne vikingeborg . 3. Edition. Fyens Stiftsmuseum, Odense 1987 (28 pages).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Magnus Nørtoft: Today Odense is 100 years older (Danish) Danmarks Radio, 13 August 2015.

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