The Birthstones Of Denmark

In the Danish town of Jelling stand the two Jelling stones, which are located in a churchyard. The stones are situated between two large grass mounds. They show the transition period from the Norse pagan religion to the religion of Christianity. The largest stone has an inscription of Christ standing as if crucified and tied up in what appears to be branches of a tree. Experts believe that this signifies Christ replacing the pagan religion and the Norse god Odin. In myth Odin hung for nine nights in the tree Yggdrasill. On the other side of the stone there is a carving of a serpent that is wrapped around a lion.

The larger of the two stone is often referred to as the birthstone of Denmark’s and is strongly identified with the creation of Denmark as an independent nation. Both the stones have one the earliest inscriptions of the name “Danmark”.

A thousand years of erosion caused quite significant damage. Cracks were starting to appear. In 2008 a team of experts visited the site in Jelling and said that the stones must be moved to protect them it was decided an indoor temperature controlled environment would best suit. There was a protest to keep the stones in place however an agreement was reached and the stones were left where they stand but were enclosed in a strict temperature-controlled case to stop the erosion making the situation worse.

When the stones wire first carved they would have been painted however because of the erosion issue most of it has flaked away. There was enough left to see the colours that were used. In 1955 a replica was made of the larger of the two stones for a festival in London. The replica was painted how it would have originally looked. This  now resides in a Danish church in St Catherine’s precinct.

The inscription on the largest of the stones when changed into English reads "King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian."