Fyrkat
Sign in to saveFyrkat is a former Viking ring castle in Denmark, dating from c. 980 AD. It is located near the town of Hobro, some distance from the present end of the Mariager Fjord in Northern Jutland. The fortress is built on a narrow piece of land, with a stream on one side and swampy area on the other sides. Likely built during the reign of Harald Gormsson or his son Sweyn Forkbeard, the fortress may have served as barracks or as a defensive stronghold. It would have help to enable control of the traffic on the main land-based trading route between Aalborg and Aarhus. Because of its unique architecture
Key facts
- Ancient site.name
- Fyrkat
- Ancient site.image
- Fyrkat-2.jpg
- Ancient site.caption
- Aerial view of the Viking ring fortress of Fyrkat. The circular geometry is evident.
- Ancient site.map_type
- Denmark
- Ancient site.map_caption
- Location of the site in Denmark
- Ancient site.map_size
- 250px
- Ancient site.location
- Jutland, Denmark
- Ancient site.type
- Viking ring fortress
- Ancient site.built
- c. 980
- Ancient site.epochs
- Iron Age, Viking Age
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
10 sectionsContents
- Layout and construction
- Cemetery
- Excavation and finds
- Dating
- Today
- Viking Center Fyrkat
- See also
- Bibliography
- References
- External links
Fyrkat is a former Viking ring castle in Denmark, dating from c. 980 AD. It is located near the town of Hobro, some distance from the present end of the Mariager Fjord in Northern Jutland. The fortress is built on a narrow piece of land, with a stream on one side and swampy area on the other sides. Likely built during the reign of Harald Gormsson or his son Sweyn Forkbeard, the fortress may have served as barracks or as a defensive stronghold. It would have help to enable control of the traffic on the main land-based trading route between Aalborg and Aarhus. Because of its unique architecture and testimony to the strategic power of the House of Knýtlinga (Jelling dynasty), Fyrkat was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with four other Viking ring castles in 2023.
== Layout and construction == thumb|center|500px Like the other ring castles (or forts) at Aggersborg or Trelleborg near Slagelse, it is designed as an exact circle with four gates opposite to each other and connected by two wooden roads that cross in a right angle in the exact middle of the fort. A circle road gave access to the wall. In each of the four quarters stood four longhouses of the same design arranged in a square with a smaller house in the middle.