We love crafts in Den Gamle By – A whole month of fire, clay and horsepower

There's something special about standing so close to a brick that you can feel the heat hit your face. Watching a bricklayer stir up lime with his bare hands, or hearing the sound of a hammer shaping glowing iron. These are the kinds of experiences that await when Den Gamle By holds "We Love Crafts" throughout May.

Here, the museum opens workshops, rolls out tents on the festival grounds and invites you right into the trades that once kept a market town alive. Some of the crafts have been forgotten. Others only live on in the hands of a handful of Danes. And that's exactly why it's worth taking the trip.

Here's what you can experience in May.

Open workshops every weekday in May

If you want to experience the craft without the crowds, weekdays are your chance. Throughout May, gardeners, craftsmen and restorers open the doors to their workshops and construction sites, and you can walk around and watch as they work.
Keep an eye out for the signs with the round craftsman's sign as you walk through the city. That's where something is happening. Maybe a carpenter is shaping a plank, as has been done for 200 years, maybe the gardener is planting in the greenhouse. It's not a show, but work that is going on, while you can stand by and ask questions.

Build with wood, lime and linseed oil

Weekend of May 2–3

The first weekend is about the building trades. Bricklayers slake lime in the traditional way, painters work with linoleum putty, and carpenters shape timber with hand tools. These are techniques used when maintaining the old houses of the Old Town, and which are disappearing from modern construction sites.

The exciting thing is that you can try it yourself. You can stir the lime, put putty in an old window frame or try your hand at painting signs. Put on some clothes, you're welcome to wear something. That's part of the point.

Blacksmithing Festival and National Championship in Art Blacksmithing

Weekend of May 9–10

The Old Town lights up the place together with the Danish Art Blacksmiths Association, and the entire festival site is transformed into a blacksmith's workshop under a large tent.

Here, some of the country's best blacksmiths compete for the title of Danish champion. It's a different kind of competition than the ones we're used to. Quiet concentration, squeaking steel, glowing subjects and results that look more like small sculptures than useful objects. Between the competitions, you can get your own hammer in your hand under the guidance of Den Gamle Bys Smedelaug.
The smell of coal and burnt iron lingers all weekend, and the sound of hammering carries far beyond the city.

Build a mini house out of clay and straw

Ascension Day, May 14–17

During the Ascension Day holiday, the tent on the festival grounds is transformed into a construction site for elves. It sounds like a children's activity, and it is. But there is an honest point hidden beneath it.

The children make clay bricks, mix clay mortar and build small walls for gnome houses. Meanwhile, as an adult, you can learn about the same materials, clay, wood and reeds, which are making a strong comeback as biogenic building materials in modern, sustainable construction. They emit almost no CO2 and are fully regenerative.

So while the kids are rolling clay between their fingers, you can get an insight into what the construction of the future will likely be about.

Craftsmanship and horsepower

Whitsun weekend, May 23–25

During Pentecost, the streets of Rostens are filled with horses and historic carriages, and the whole city rumbles in a different way than usual.

The farrier lights up the ace and hot shoes the horses before your eyes. It is one of the crafts that exists in very few versions in Denmark today, and to see it done properly with hot shoes and hooves is a rare thing. The wheelwright also works when the large iron rings are to be heated and placed on wooden wagon wheels with a precision that has not changed in a hundred years.

You can also buy a horse-drawn carriage ride through the Old Town and Botanical Gardens. It costs from 40 kroner and gives you a completely different perspective and rhythm of the city.

Eat, grow, plant

Weekend of May 30–31

The last weekend in May shifts the focus from the workshops down into the ground and into the kitchen. Den Gamle By's chefs and gardeners show how they use old varieties of vegetables and herbs, and how you can get started growing them yourself, even if you only have a balcony box or a windowsill.

You can taste the difference between old and new varieties side by side. And you can learn a little about bittering agents, about flavoring and about what healthy soil actually is. Put your fingers in the soil, if you dare.

Practical

We Love Crafts takes place throughout Den Gamle By throughout May and is included in the regular admission. Most activities take place at the festival site and in workshops around the city. Bring the kids, wear clothes you can wear clay and lime on, and give yourself time. It's a museum where the best things happen when you stop and ask.

The Old Town offers much more than historical workshops. In our guide to the Old Town you will find more experiences, exhibitions and events all year round.