The little village of Jelling features on the cemetry of the local church two of the most important runestones of Denmark.

 

The smaller one was erected around 950 by Denmarks first king Gorm the Old as a lasting memory of his beloved wife Thyra.

They lay buried under a large bronze age man-made mound.

 

Their son, Harald Bluetooth converted to Christianity, probably under heavy pressure from the Holy Roman Empire.

To commemorate this feat he had the second, largest stone erected, decorated with a picture of Jesus Christ on one side and inscripted with rune text on the other.

 

Harald had his parents burial mound enlarged and build another large hill to the south. There once was a stone ship connecting both mounds, maybe erected by Gorm.

After his conversion Harald had a wooden church build between the mounds and reburied the remains of his parents here.

At the end of his rein Harald was expelled by his son Sweyn Forkbeard. 

 

We visited Jelling in August 2014.