Five Ring Fortresses
During the Viking Age, Denmark’s last Viking king, Harald Bluetooth, had one of his five ring fortresses built near the settlement Odins Vi by the Odense River.
The fortress was not just a defensive structure but also part of King Harald Bluetooth’s massive prestige projects, designed to assert once and for all that Denmark was a strong and independent state. Today, the Nonnebakken Viking Ring Fortress is one of five Danish ring fortresses recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The ring fortress had an outer diameter of 180 meters, surrounded by a 9-meter-wide moat and an approximately 15-meter-wide rampart, possibly up to 5 meters high, with wooden cladding on both the front and back. Much of Nonnebakken is now hidden beneath the center of Odense, but parts of the fortress have been excavated.
In the exhibition, you can see the most important finds from the Viking ring fortress and learn more about Nonnebakken and the people for whom it was significant.
The exhibition is in the main building at TID and is accessible by elevator.
