2024 05 23 Bornholm Trip Report

Thursday 08:30 We took the ferry from Ystad to Ronne. It was not crowded. At around 10:15, we were outside of No 10, which is a gallery and shop for Anna Margrethe Kjaergaard, who is an illustrator and author. It was closed but we saw some charming illustrations on display through the window.

The next stop was Hjorths Fabrik, the last working ceramic factory on Bornholm. The Factory, museum and shop was founded in 1859 and produces handmade ceramics. We took a round tour and saw pottery being made on foot-driven wheels. The factory is almost in its original condition. There were lots of stairs to the various factory workrooms. The environment was dusty but beautiful. Parking a bus nearby would need planning and the steps might deter some people.

We then drove for 20 minutes to Hasle. In 1875 Grønbechs Gård was established as the warehouses for the Grocery Store Grønbechs. The company dates back to 1658.

In 1999, the Society Grønbechs Gård was established to act as a platform for the artisans of Bornholm. The creation of the society was the initiative of the then Mayor of Hasle Municipality, Birgit Rasmussen. The municipality donated the building to the Islands Craft Community, and financed parts of the construction costs in cooperation with the EU, national and local funds. The municipality of Hasle also contributed to the annual running costs. Grønbechs Gård was carefully refurbished and today stands with  1500 square meters of beautiful and well-maintained exhibition space.

The four or five floors of the exhibition area are superb. It was one of the best exhibitions of three-dimensional art I have seen. It displayed, for example, giant paper flowers in a darkened room, glass and wood combined into Viking long boats by Soltegn, ceramics, glass and wall hangings.

Now we were hungry so we drove to Gudhjem to eat at Café Klint. We popped into the Oluf Høst Museum, which is 200 metres from the Gudhjem Røggeri. It is the house and gardens of the impressionist painter who died in 1966.

A short drive took us to Baltic Glass. Which is a working glassworks where you can see glass blowing in progress. The kiln was being maintained, so there was nothing to see on the day we were there other than a large display of their products.

Svaneke was the next stop to buy beer at the brewery, and we popped into Gallery Bundegaard. He makes large abstract landscapes by both classic methods and digital painting.

We drove to Gallery Cirkola located a few kilometres from Nexø. The building and its grounds date from 1919 and originally was the local school. It is now converted into a home, ateljé and garden where Anne Cirkola works and exhibits.

The final stop was at Jans Ceramic to buy some coffee mugs to complement those we already have.

We had dinner at Bakkarøgeriet, which is in a small coastal village. It was remarkable that the restaurant was almost full on a Thursday evening. Why? Generous portions, a quirky miljö, not beautiful, and reasonable prices, perhaps.

We drove back via Aakirkeby to catch the 20:30 Ferry and were home by 23:00