Hunseby is a village located some north of

Maribo Maribo is a town in Lolland Municipality in Region Zealand, Region Sjælland on the island of Lolland in south Denmark. It was the municipal seat of the former Maribo Municipality, until 1 January 2007, and then it became the seat of the cur ...

on the Danish island of

Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the List of islands of Denmark#List of 100 largest Danish islands, fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Kattegat, Belts and Sund area, it is part of Re ...

. It belongs to Lolland Municipality in

Region Sjælland Region Zealand () is an administrative region of Denmark. It is one of the five classified NUTS-2 statistical regions of Denmark. It was established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional ...

. As of 2024, it has a population of 399.

Etymology

According to legend, Hunsby is the village of King Huns, a giant whose head can be seen high on the south wall of Hunsby Church.Kirsten Weber-Andersen, Otto Norn, Aage Roussell, Gertrud Købke Knudsen, "Hunsby Kirke"
''Danmarks kirker: Maribo amt, Volume 8'', 1951, Nationalmuseet, pages 905-922. Retrieved 11 July 2013. The legend tells how Huns drowned as he attempted to take the island of

Askø Askø is a Danish island north of Lolland. It covers an area of 2.82 km2 and has 55 permanent inhabitants (as of 1 January 2005) as well as hundreds of summer vacation properties. It is connected to the neighbouring island of Lilleø by a 70 ...

which lies off

Bandholm Bandholm is a small port town and parish on the coast of northern Lolland, Region Zealand, Denmark. On 1 January 2025 it had a population of 440, and is located to the northwest of Knuthenborg Safari Park and Maribo. From Bandholm there is ferry s ...

. He was buried in Kong Huns Høj near Knuthenborg Manor.

History

From Romanesque inscriptions in the stonework supporting an old portal, it appears the church must have existed in the middle of the 12th century. In 1714, the parish came under the authority of Sister Lerche when she established the county of

Knuthenborg Knuthenborg is a manor house located north of Maribo on the Danish island of Lolland. Originally known as Årsmarke, it was first mentioned in 1372. Today's building was completed in 1866 to a design by Henrik Steffens Sibbern. The medieval man ...

. She had already opened Hunseby School in 1698 and in 1715 she established a hospital accommodating up to eight patients from the county. In 1879, Karen Knuth built a number of so-called free houses to accommodate servants and members of staff who had worked at Knuthenborg. An example can be seen at No. 30 Kirkevej."Sporene på Huns Å"
Spor i Landskabet. Retrieved 12 July 2013.

Notable people

* Adam Christopher von Knuth (1687-1736) the first Count of

, buried in

Hunseby Church Hunseby Church is located in the village of Hunseby some 3 km north of Maribo on the Danish island of Lolland. Built in the middle of the 12th century, the church has a Romanesque chancel and nave and a Gothic tower.Hunseby Church Hunseby Church is located in the village of Hunseby some 3 km north of Maribo on the Danish island of Lolland. Built in the middle of the 12th century, the church has a Romanesque chancel and nave and a Gothic tower.Romanesque

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

tower."Hunseby Church"
''Historisk Atlas''. Retrieved 3 July 2013. Recent research has indicated that the building may have been built as early as 1060, making it one of the oldest churches in Denmark.

Hunseby today

Hunseby and Maglemer now form one community, sharing a sports ground, church, institutions and a nursery. Over the years,

has exerted considerable influence on the two villages, especially in regard to architecture. Many of the 300,000 visitors to

Knuthenborg Safari Park Knuthenborg Safaripark is a safari park on the island of Lolland in the southeast of Denmark. It is located to the north of Maribo, near Bandholm. It is one of Lolland's major tourist attractions with over 300,000 visitors annually, and is th ...

travel through the community, sometimes admiring the small English-looking houses built by the estate in former times."Hunseby og Maglemer - Landsbyen ved byen"
Lolland.dk. Retrieved 11 July 2013.

References

{{Towns of Lolland Municipality Villages in Lolland Municipality