Visual Bornholm
Published by Visual Media ApS
Designed by Miru Studio
For more than 10,000 years, people have lived on Bornholm. They have farmed the land, carved into rock, and built churches and castles. The island’s people have stood firm against pirates and foreign powers. Bombs have fallen, fishing villages have disappeared, and artists have left their mark in clay and on canvas.
This history can be read – but to be truly understood, it must be experienced. Bornholm Museum consists of four museums, each opening a door to the island’s culture and history.
Bornholm is an island of ceramics. For centuries, clay has been extracted from the subsoil and shaped by hand. Hjorths Fabrik in Rønne is the best place to understand why ceramics hold such a prominent place in the island’s cultural heritage. Potters and ceramicists have worked here since the 1860s. Each room breathes history: slanted floors, tilted walls, quirky windows. Everything is different – and yet it all fits together, as if the entire factory were shaped from clay.
At Hjorths Fabrik, you get the full story of ceramics. From raw clay in the Bornholm subsoil to the finished forms gleaming on the shop shelves. Everything is produced on-site. You feel the story in your hands when joining a course. You see it in the kilns, the exhibitions, the rhythmic calm of the turning room. And you understand why ceramics on Bornholm have shaped more than cups and bowls – they’ve shaped a unique cultural history.
In the heart of Rønne lies Bornholm Museum – the main museum. Here, the island’s story is told through a wealth of objects. From the beautiful and mysterious gold foil figures of ancient times to fragments from the bombings of Rønne and Nexø during World War II. A visit to the old buildings opens your senses and mind to Bornholm’s history – and it resurfaces later, as you stroll through the island’s towns, round churches, and castle ruins.
Nearby is Erichsens Gård – a town house and garden with rare plants. Here, stories from the age of the bourgeoisie and Bornholm painters come to life. And on the east coast, Melstedgård – the living farm museum – offers the whole family a pleasant day among historic buildings, charming animals, and traditional baked goods.
Bornholm Museum comprises four museums – each with its own rhythm, atmosphere, and perspective on the island’s past.
For millennia, Bornholm has been a cultural powerhouse in the Baltic Sea. People have come here since the Stone Age—drawn by cliffs, coasts, and light. Their traces remain today, as the island is one of the richest archaeological sites in Denmark.
At Bornholm Museum, the layers of history are gathered. Ages are tied together into one story—told through the lens of the present. At Melstedgård and Erichsens Gård, time stands still, and you feel how the past both reflects and differs from today. At Hjorths Fabrik, craftsmanship and history meet in a design language that continues to evolve.
In the museum’s four houses—in town, at the factory, by the village pond, and facing the sea—history takes shape: as scent, sound, material, and emotion. Together, they offer a reflective understanding of Bornholm’s past—shared with both the mind and the senses.
In the old Latin school in the heart of Rønne, Bornholm’s history unfolds through objects you can get close to. The story here is not told through digital screens, but through items that have been held in hands, carried on the sea, buried in the ground. It is a journey narrated by historical artifacts: paper-thin gold foil figures, seafaring gear, and traces of World War II. As you walk through the rooms, you sense how Bornholm has shaped its own culture and identity—both independently and as part of the Danish realm.
At Hjorths Fabrik in Rønne, you experience the full journey of ceramics—from raw clay to finished forms. At the potter’s wheels, ceramicists share their knowledge of Bornholm’s natural materials and how they are shaped and fired into durable expressions.
You sense the craftsmanship and precision behind every piece. The factory presents both historical and contemporary ceramics—and offers workshops where you can get hands-on with the clay. Registration and schedules are available on the museum’s website.
The permanent exhibition immerses you in a time capsule of the factory—with the old office and the story of the Hjorth family dynasty, which helped establish Bornholm as a ceramics island. The current special exhibition features wood-fired ceramics by ten artists from around the world.
On a hilltop overlooking the Baltic Sea, just outside Gudhjem, lies Melstedgård. Here, you don’t just step into history—you become part of it.
The yellow half-timbered farmhouse stands as it did in the 1870s. Children run across the courtyard to feed the animals. In the kitchen, the scent of bread fills the air, and in the pantry, mustard is ground with heavy tools.
Melstedgård is a museum for the whole family, where history is told through hands and senses. A place where you can sit in the sun and simply be. Next door is the Food Culture House, where history turns into taste. Here, you’re invited into workshops with herring, chips, ice cream—or breakfast as it was in 1870. Everything is made from scratch.
Just a few streets away from shops and ferry traffic lies Erichsens Gård. Behind a low, rose-colored façade, you step into a different pace. A different century.
The house stands just as it did when the Erichsen family lived here. Living rooms, kitchen, and garden have been preserved with such intricate detail that time seems to stand still. Here, you can feel the intimate life of 19th-century middle-class citizens—full of traces of the past.
In the garden, you can find shade, go on an insect safari—or taste homemade pancakes on Saturdays. For children, there are small suitcases filled with activities that open up history room by room.
