Horsens Statsfængsel (Horsens State Prison), formerly called Horsens Straffeanstalt (Horsens Correctional Institution), is a former prison in Horsens, Denmark. Today it is a crime and

prison museum Museums have been created from many former jails and prisons. Some old jails converted into museums are listed under the original name of the jail, especially if listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. For example, see Old St. J ...

called Horsens Prison Museum (Fængselsmuseet), a conference and business facility, and a concert venue where bands such as

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

have played. Following expansions in 2016, it is the largest prison museum in the world. It won the 2015 ''InAVation'' award as best visitors attraction and the 2016 ''Museums + Heritage'' award as best foreign (non-British) museum. The prison was commissioned in 1853 and was closed in 2006 when the last remaining inmates were moved to the State Prison of East Jutland at Enner Mark, west of Horsens. When built, the prison was intended for prisoners serving long prison sentences. The prisoners spend the nights in their cells, during the day prisoners worked in the prison's "workshops" and during the evenings, they moved freely in the wards. Among the famous prisoners were

Carl August Lorentzen Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

(1896-1958) who escaped in 1949 through a tunnel he initially dug with a spoon, politician

Peter Adler Alberti Peter Adler Alberti (10 June 1851 – 14 June 1932) was a Danish politician and swindler, known for the Alberti scandal of 1908. Career Alberti was a solicitor, the son of a liberal politician who had been a pioneer of the Danish savings bank ...

who gained notoriety due to an embezzlement scandal in 1908, Jens Nielsen (1884-1892) who was executed in 1892 (the last person to be

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

in Danish peacetime), and German Nazi

Werner Best Karl Rudolf Werner Best (10 July 1903 – 23 June 1989) was a German jurist, police chief, SS-''Obergruppenführer'', Nazi Party leader, and theoretician from Darmstadt. He was the first chief of Department 1 of the Gestapo, Nazi Germany's secret ...

who was the administrator of Denmark during the World War II occupation. Artifacts relating to Lorentzen's escape, Alberti's and Best's imprisonments, and the axe used in Nielsen's execution are among the items at the museum.

References

External links

Fængslet website

Horsens Museum Interactive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsens Statsfaengsel Defunct prisons in Denmark Museums in the Central Denmark Region Prison museums in Europe East Jutland 1853 establishments in Denmark Government buildings completed in 1853