There are several museums in

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

, Denmark. These include a museum of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

, a

historical museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

and a

maritime museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navy, navies and the m ...

. Together with the city's theatre, cultural centre and music interests, they constitute an important aspect of the municipality's recent focus on knowledge and culture.

History

The Aalborg Historical Museum in the city centre was established in 1863 making it one of the earliest provincial museums in Denmark. Excavations in the 1950s revealed Iron Age and Viking artifacts from burial sites at

Lindholm Høje Lindholm Høje (Lindholm Hills, from Old Norse ''haugr'', hill or mound) is a major Viking burial site and former settlement situated to the north of and overlooking the city of Aalborg in Denmark. About the area The southern (lower) part of Li ...

just north of

Limfjord The Limfjord ( common Danish: ''Limfjorden'' , in northwest Jutlandish dialect: ''Æ Limfjord'') is a shallow part of the sea, located in Denmark where it has been regarded as an inlet ever since Viking times. However, it now has entries both ...

. In the mid-1990s, the foundations of the Greyfriars Monastery were investigated in the city centre, both leading to smaller museums. The striking museum of modern art was completed in the early 1970s, to be followed in 1992 by a marine museum and in 2002 by a defence museum. Over the years, the Historical Museum's administration developed into the North Jutland Historical Museum (''Nordjyllands Historiske Museum''), a system administered by a 12-member committee made up of representatives of the constituent organisations, including the Museum Society of Hadsund, the Museum Society for Hals Kommune, the Aalborg History Association, the North Jutland Association of Archaeology for Jutland, the Historical Community of Himmerland and Kjaer District, and the Cultural Historic Society of North Jutland.

Museums

Aalborg Historical Museum

The first building for the Aalborg Historical Museum (1863) was designed by Conrad Weber in 1863. The present museum was constructed in 1878 and expanded in the early 1890s to house the growing collection of items from the region's earliest inhabitants to modern times. The Aalborgstuen presents a fine Renaissance interior from 1602.

Kunsten Museum of Modern Art

The Kunsten Museum of Modern Art was built between 1968 and 1972 after designs by Elissa Aalto,

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

and Jean-Jacques Baruël. The design is said to be inspired by the

ziggurat A ziggurat (; Cuneiform: 𒅆𒂍𒉪, Akkadian: ', D-stem of ' 'to protrude, to build high', cognate with other Semitic languages like Hebrew ''zaqar'' (זָקַר) 'protrude'), ( Persian: Chogha Zanbilچغازنجبیل) is a type of massive ...

. The structure extends over , with galleries organised around a central hall. The external walls and most of the pavement are of

Carrara Carrara ( ; ; , ) is a town and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey Carrara marble, marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, ...

marble. The building materials have light colours to emphasise the art works.KUNSTEN: The Building
, retrieved 2 October 2011 The outdoor areas include a sculpture park, amphitheatre and terrace. Some of the sculptures exhibited are by

Gunnar Aagaard Andersen Gunnar Aagaard Andersen (14 July 1919 – 29 June 1982) was a Danish sculptor, painter, designer and architect whose work belongs to the Concrete art movement. Early life and education Born in Ordrup to the north of Copenhagen, Aagaard Andersen ...

Willy Ørskov Willy Ørskov (21 December 1920 in Aarhus – 12 June 1990 in Helsingør) was a Danish sculptor who is remembered for works created from plastics and inflatable materials. Biography Ørskov's studies at the Valand School of Fine Arts in Gothenbu ...

, Lene Adler Petersen and

Mogens Møller Mogens Møller (28 November 1934 – 16 June 2021 The collection consists of around 1,500 art objects, including paintings, sculptures and other forms of artistic media.

Greyfriars Monastery Museum

In 1994 and 1995, excavations at the site of the 11th-century Greyfriars Monastery in central Aalborg resulted in the creation of the Greyfriars Monastery Museum (''Gråbrødrekloster Museum'') underneath the central pedestrian shopping street. Inside the well-preserved foundations, the museum reveals the history of the monastery, the town and former houses and churches.

Springeren - Marine Experience Center

The Springeren - Marine Experience Center is a marine museum on the wharf of Aalborg. Inaugurated on 24 May 1992, in the presence of Queen Margrethe, the museum's collections have since been expanded considerably, especially with an extensive collection of ship radios and navigation instruments, showing the development of such tools. The main attraction is the Danish submarine "Springeren".

Aalborg Defence and Garrison Museum

The Aalborg Defence and Garrison Museum documents Danish defences during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as well as the history of Aaborg's garrison since 1779. The museum is in a historic building in the western part of Aalborg - a huge hangar with side buildings, erected by the German occupation forces in 1940 at the

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

base Seefliegerhorst Aalborg.

Lindholm Høje Museum

In the 1950s, the Nordjyllands Museum conducted a series of archaeological excavations at

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

and

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

sites in the area, including the extensive burial sites at

near

Nørresundby Nørresundby () is a city in Aalborg Municipality, north of Limfjorden, in Vendsyssel, in Denmark. The urban area has a population of 24,436 (1 January 2025). It is located just north of Aalborg, which lies south of Limfjorden. Statistically it ...

on the north side of the fjord. In 1992, thanks to funding by Aalborg Portland, a museum was opened on the site and extended in 2008 following a grant from A.P. Møller. It presents many of the findings from the excavations as well as displays illustrating life in the Viking period and in earlier settlements.Elisabeth Barfod Carlsen, "Fortidsmindet Lindholm Høje er en del af Kulturarvsstyrelsens project 'Danmarks Oldtid i Landskabet'"
''DitBlad'', July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2013.

References

External links

{{Aalborg Museums in Denmark