Graffiti defaces the Jelling Stones

World Heritage site at risk after spray-paint attack

In the early hours of February 12th the cryptic name of ‘Gelwan E’ in 25 cm-high letters was sprayed onto the Jelling Stones in Jutland. The famous stones, listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO and open to the wind and weather, were raised around 965 by King Harald Bluetooth in memory of his parents, King Gorm and Queen Thyra. They are known as Denmark’s ‘baptism certificate’, since the runes on one of the stones proclaim that Harald ‘brought Denmark together and made the Danes Christian’. Christianity was thereby confirmed as the new state religion.

 

Initially the local police had no idea who the offender was or the meaning of the letters, daubed 25cm-high in green spray-paint, but 6 days later they had made an arrest. A 15-year-old autistic boy has admitted that he is the culprit, but said that he did not know what the letters meant. He has been charged with vandalism.

 

Chair of the local parish council, Gunni Hoejvang, expects the clean-up to cost between $10,000 and $20,000. After the initial shock and the relief over the arrest he said, “Poor boy, poor parents. I’m afraid they will have to pay for it.”

 

The clean-up operation and the stones’ future
Experts from Denmark’s National Museum have examined the damage and are optimistic that they can remove the paint without lasting damage. Due to the frosty weather the paint had yet to harden fully. At a press conference their representative, Susanne Trudsoe, explained that the stones would be wrapped in packing material containing solvent. “We have to try to find something that you can remove graffiti with, without the stone’s patina also being lost. When you remove graffiti, you often see that the graffiti almost comes out as a negative because the area becomes so clean. We want to avoid that.”

 

In 2010, despite calls from the National Museum that because of cold and wet climate the stones should be moved indoors, experts from UNESCO did their own research and concluded that the stones were best left where they are. But when the Heritage Agency of Denmark selected a winner from among 157 projects to protect the stones with glass casings, UNESCO gave the go-ahead.

 

Nobel Architects’ proposal won the Heritage Agency’s competition with its design that features rectangular glass casings strengthened by two solid bronze sides mounted on a supporting steel skeleton. The bronze patina will give off a rusty, greenish colour, highlighting the rune-stones’ grey and reddish tones and emphasising their monumental character and significance.

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Jyllands-Posten reported on 7th March that 97% of the stones were now cleaned.

 

Picture: Nobel Architects' winning proposal. See www.nobel.dk

 

 

 

By: Edward Broadbridge

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