Every design for Aars

Aars is known as the town of the Cimbri, and for the rune stone outside its church. The stone was raised by a man named Asser for his lord Valtoke, a son of Gorm the Old, and its inscription promises it will stand for a long time. It has kept that promise: rediscovered in the town centuries ago, Års-stenen still stands by the church.

Vesthimmerlands Museum carries the rest of the story, from the archaeological finds of Himmerland to an exhibition on the writer Johannes V. Jensen, who first proposed a museum here. Not far away, Dansk Nutidsmuseum collects the everyday objects of Danish homes. Aars itself grew from a church village into a railway town and then into Himmerland's railway junction, with lines running off towards Løgstør, Hobro and Hvalpsund. Today it is the municipal seat of Vesthimmerland, and the artist Per Kirkeby has left his mark on its streets.

Grow up here and you learn the landmarks early: the white church, the museum, the rune stone, the ancient sites such as Kæmpehøj. Years later, the map of Aars still brings back every one of them.