Podcast: Sounds of the medieval town of Rudkøbing
In this section, ethnologist and former museum curator Peter Dragsbo explains what makes Rudkøbing a town that can be traced all the way back to the Middle Ages.
Activity:
City walk in medieval Rudkøbing
Start at the harbour square at the end of Brogade. Walk along Brogade up to the church. When Rudkøbing was founded in around 1180, the church was considerably smaller than it is today. But it is not only the church itself that looks different. In the Middle Ages, the church was surrounded by a cemetery. It is believed that the church was short of money and therefore sold off the surrounding land, which is why the church is now surrounded by small, neat townhouses and the cemetery can be found south of Brogade.
Continue along Brogade up to Torvet, where you will find what was Rudkøbing's centre of trade in the Middle Ages. Here, the monks sold cattle and grain. Sailors arrived with goods from other regions and exported the monks' crops. From here, you can continue up Østergade. At the intersection of Østergade and Ørstedgade stood one of the two former city gates. In the Middle Ages, it was made of wood, and they were first bricked up around the 1600s when the Swedes went to war against the local merchants. The other city gate stood at the end of Nørregade.
If you walk along Philosophgangen behind Østergade, you can see the long plots of land with deep gardens behind the houses facing Østergade. In the past, the gardens were part of the farms, where agriculture was diligently practised.