Skibelund Krat

Memorial stones among oaks and beeches

Skibelund Krat is not a park where history stands at a distance. The memorial stones are scattered throughout the woodland and around the old meeting place, so a walk quickly becomes a journey among names, language struggles and landscape. The two most prominent works are Modersmålet and Magnusstenen, both erected as national works of art around 1900.

A meeting place by the old border

After the defeat in 1864, the site became a gathering point for Danish-minded people north and south of the Kongeå River. Here, people could meet for outdoor gatherings, discuss democracy and Danish identity, and maintain their connection with Southern Jutland while the border lay close by. The south-facing slope made it possible to gather many people at once, and the location offered views towards the land that many people at the time experienced as lost.

Things worth noticing

The paths lead through old oak scrub and tall beech woodland on the edge of the Kongeå Valley. At the monuments, QR codes provide more information about the stones and the people behind them, and an information board stands by the northern entrance. In spring, the forest floor may be covered with white anemones; during the rest of the year, it is especially the contrast between the heavy stones, the tall trees and the valley’s slope that defines the site.