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Founded: c. 1100 BCCategory: Prehistoric and archaeological sites in Denmark
Historical period: Bronze Age (Denmark)
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Louisenlund is a site with one of Denmark's largest collection of megaliths. Some 50 stones standing upright among the trees, many of them over 2.5 metres high. The megaliths, which bear no inscription, stand on low mounds or over graves where the remains of burnt bones are buried. In the early Bronze Age and late Iron Age (1100 BC), it appears to have been common practice to set megaliths over graves of this kind. The stones stand alone or in small groups. As the site has not been archeologically investigated, it is not known why the stones were raised there. Another important megalithic site on Bornholm is Gryet, a small wooded area 5 kilometres west of Nexø. Originally it had more than 60 megaliths. Some have now been removed while half those remaining have fallen to the ground. The highest of them, once standing on the mound towards the south of the wood, was removed in the 17th century to be used as a gravestone. Louisenlund was bought by King Frederik VII when he visited Bornholm in 1851. He named it after his mistress, Countess Louise Danner.
References:The church of the former Franciscan monastery was built probably between 1515 and 1520. It is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Rauma. The church stands by the small stream of Raumanjoki (Rauma river).
The exact age of the Church of the Holy Cross is unknown, but it was built to serve as the monastery church of the Rauma Franciscan Friary. The monastery had been established in the early 15th century and a wooden church was built on this location around the year 1420.
The Church of the Holy Cross served the monastery until 1538, when it was abandoned for a hundred years as the Franciscan friary was disbanded in the Swedish Reformation. The church was re-established as a Lutheran church in 1640, when the nearby Church of the Holy Trinity was destroyed by fire.
The choir of the two-aisle grey granite church features medieval murals and frescoes. The white steeple of the church was built in 1816 and has served as a landmark for seafarers.