Experience of the Month, Denmark
A captivating experience The prison in Horsens used to be a stain on the city, but after its reopening as a cultural institution in 2012, FÆNGSLET has become a recognised landmark attracting visitors from all over the world with its countless cultural opportunities. By Nicolai Lisberg
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Photos: FÆNGSLET
Do you fancy spending a romantic weekend with your partner in a prison cell? How about having your work conference behind prison walls, solving a murder mystery or simply reliving the history of the prison in the award-winning museum? Since 2006, when the last inmate left the former Horsens State Penitentiary, a lot of work has been put into creating what is today known as FÆNGSLET (‘the prison’). It has become a cultural institution, where the aim is to offer extraordinary cultural experiences for everyone on a daily basis. “I can’t think of any other place with such a variety of events and experiences that we offer here at FÆNGSLET. A prison is 94 |
Issue 141
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April 2022
usually closed to the public, but we’ve opened it up, giving insight into life in prison and creating plenty of cultural events. There is a lot of history here, which we combine with creating new experiences,” says Maria Emilie Levy, communications and marketing manager at FÆNGSLET. The stories from the past are both dark and impressive, and the museum tells all of them by offering experiences of the life behind walls through sound, film, photos and belongings. It was here, at these very premises, that the last beheading in Denmark took place in 1892, when inmates were forced to witness Jens Nielsen’s last breath. It was also here that the famous escape artist Carl August Lorentzen man-
aged to dig an 18-metre-long tunnel over the course of 11 months, then escaping to freedom. Both stories are told at the museum, and visitors can even experience a reconstruction of Lorentzen’s tunnel and his great escape. Sting and the prison guards Every year, FÆNGSLET welcomes more than 100,000 visitors from all over the world, and some of them choose to spend a night in a prison cell to get an even more unique experience.
