Århus - Attractions

1. The Old Town Open Air Museum
The Old Town is a five-star heritage museum comprising 75 historical buildings, gardens, exhibitions, houses, shops and workshops that ranks among the best of its kind in the world. The museum provides a living, breathing experience of what it was like to live and work in a Danish market town in days of old. Experience the life of a bygone era in provincial Denmark from the days of Hans Christian Andersen, with fairytale magic around every corner. Major Christmas events.

2. The ARoS Aarhus Art Museum
The ARoS Aarhus Art Museum is one of the largest museums in northern Europe. Its 17,700 m² house galleries with works from the Danish Golden Age right up to the present day, as well as traveling international exhibitions. Indoors at street level you find the ART Café and the ARoS Shop, with its excellent selection of art books and top quality design handicrafts. From the ART Restaurant and the roof, visitors can delight in superb views of the city.

3. Moesgård Museum
Moesgård Museum is housed in the Moesgård Manor, set in beautiful natural surroundings south of Århus. The museum's permanent exhibition showcases a range of exceptional archaeological finds from Denmark's prehistory. Among the greatest of these treasures is the Grauballe Man, who died more than 2000 years ago and is the world's best preserved peat bog corpse. Major annual events: Moesgård Story Teller Festival, the Viking Moot, the Willow Festival and the Nordic Viking Blacksmith Get-Together.

4. The Museum of the Occupation 1940-45
Through original exhibitions, photographs and documents, the Occupation Museum portrays both peaceful and dramatic events in Århus during the German occupation from 1940 to1945. The exhibition depicts everyday life with blackouts and rationing, provides a glimpse of the fear felt by the Danish population, and focuses on particular events that took place in Århus during those five years.

5. The Women's Museum in Denmark
One of the world's few museums devoted to the history of women is found in the former Århus City Hall, which dates from1857. In these historic surroundings the focus is firmly on the lives of women. Motherhood and working life, servitude and learning, submissiveness and revolt, isolation and community are just some of the juxtapositions highlighted in the museum's permanent exhibition entitled "Women's Lives Past and Present", with the main emphasis being on the major changes in women's life and work in the last 200 years.

6. Medieval Churches - the Cathedral and the Church of Our Lady
Downtown Århus boasts two outstanding churches. The Cathedral was started in 1201 and today it stands as a magnificent Gothic edifice adorned with a great number of frescoes and a beautiful altar-piece from 1479.

The Church of Our Lady was originally part of a Dominican monastery that was turned into a hospital for the poor following the Reformation in 1536. Today the building has three churches: the main Church of Our Lady dating back to 1250, the Crypt dating back to 1060, and the Abbey Church, consecrated in the late 19^th century and originally the meeting room of the monastery.

7. Zen Garden, Denmark's Japanese Garden
Experience a Japanese garden of many dimensions. Explore a Japanese-inspired universe where delicate cameos blend with cozy, historical elements. Trickling brooks, relaxing massage and green tea. The Zen Garden is part of Denmark's Japanese Garden, which also offers indulgence for the body in the form of wellness, top-rated gastronomy and a truly unique shopping paradise.

8. Marselisborg Palace Park
The palace was finished in 1902 and given to Prince Christian, later King Christian X^th, as a wedding present. Today the Danish royal family uses it as their summer residence.

When the Queen and her family are in residence, the changing of the guard takes place daily at 12 noon. The palace park, with the Queen's rose garden, is open to the public when the royal family is not in residence. In the park there is also a fine collection of sculptures and a herb garden.

9. University of Aarhus
Construction of the University of Aarhus commenced in 1928 and the first building was completed in 1933.The architecture is modern, and immediately anti-monumental as an organic interpretation of the open campus in the centre of the city. The university buildings are set in a valley, and all wings are built in one material only - yellow brick.

As a result of mergers between the University of Aarhus, the Institute of Business and Technology in Herning, Aarhus School of Business, the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, the National Environmental Research Institute and the Danish University of Education, there are now 34,000 students enrolled at the university.

10. Århus City Hall
The City Hall, inaugurated in 1941, was designed by the famous Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. Even though it has celebrated its 50^th anniversary, it still stands as a modern, functionalistic building and shows Danish design and architecture at its best. In 1994 the city hall was listed as a preserved building.

Guided tours and tours of the tower in summer.