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Podcast: Sounds of the Beech Tree
Was the national anthem, ‘Der er et yndigt land’ (There is a lovely country), written on Langeland? Or is it just a rumour spread by the locals? Listen to ‘The Sound of Langeland’ and find out.
The sound of the beech tree - Oehlenschlaeger's beech tree
The story goes that Denmark's national anthem, ‘Der er et yndigt land’ (There is a lovely country), was written right here under the large beech tree in Stengade Forest. We asked historian Jeppe Jøhn Hørshom from Langeland Museum whether this is true. He also tells us about who Adam Oehlenschlaeger was and his connection to Langeland.
Activities The beech tree
- Another legend about the beech tree says that you need at least five people to completely encircle it. Can you confirm or refute this myth?
- You can also use the first exercise to calculate how old the tree is. Bear in mind that a tree grows an average of 2.5 cm in circumference per year – the span of a person's arms is often a few centimetres shorter than their height. This allows you to calculate whether the tree was already here when Oehlenschläger visited Langeland in 1804.
- Who can guess the height of the tree? One person stands next to the tree and another walks 30 metres away to measure the person next to the tree with their fingers and count how many times that person has to stand on top of themselves to reach the top. Multiply the person's height by the number of times they have to stand on top of themselves to reach the top.