Troldkirken is a

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repres ...

in the village of

Nibe Nibe is a town with a population of 5,616 (1 January 2025),Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Description

The barrow was constructed by the

Funnelbeaker culture The Funnel(-neck-)beaker culture, in short TRB or TBK (, ; ; ), was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe. It developed as a technological merger of local neolithic and mesolithic techno-complexes between the lower Elbe and middle V ...

around 3500 BC and is marked out by 47

megaliths A megalith is a large Rock (geology), stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging ...

. Placed on the top of the barrow is a polygonal chambered

dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

with a large

capstone __NOTOC__ Capstone may refer to: Architecture * Keystone (architecture), also known as a capstone Brands and enterprises * Capstone Investment Advisors, a US investment management firm * Capstone Partners, an investment banking firm * Capstone P ...

. The whole monument is some long. There are several

tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

and

s in the area.

History

The barrow has been a protected site since 1809, and was one of the first

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

relics to be protected by law in Denmark. Today the barrow is maintained by The Historical Museum of Northern Jutland in

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

Name

The name "Troldkirken" means both ''Church of the Troll'' and ''Church of Sorcery'' in Danish. There are several myths surrounding Troldkirken and its peculiar name. One of them states that it appeared when nearby

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

s were angered by the noisy church bells in Sønderholm Church. They grabbed huge stones and threw them at the church, but missed. Another story says that a man once witnessed "the subterraneans" conduct a form of ceremony inside the dolmen.

Sources and references

* Svend Aa. Reerslev: ''Sønderholm – Landsbyen med de to kirker'', Aalborg Amtstidendes Trykkeri, 1961 (2. oplag 1975).
Troldkirken
Danish Agency for Culture *

External links

The Historical Museum of Northern Jutland
Buildings and structures completed in the 4th millennium BC Aalborg Municipality Megalithic monuments in Denmark Funnelbeaker culture Dolmens {{Denmark-hist-stub