The Jelling Stone Replica

Near Regent's Park, beside the Danish Church, stands a curious tribute to the church's Scandinavian roots, a replica of one of Denmark's most significant national treasures: the Jelling Stone. 

This rocky reproduction is a cast of the original standing stone erected in Jelling around 980 by King Harald Bluetooth. Created for the 1948 Danish Arts and Culture exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, this London counterpart boasts the vivid red, blue, yellow, and black hues that once enlivened the now weathered faces of the ancient Viking Age monument in Jelling.

One side recreates what is considered the earliest Scandinavian depiction of Christ on the cross, while another portrays a sinuous, serpentine struggle. The most prominent face presents the runic inscription that records the Jelling Stone’s origin: "King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian."

In 1955, the Victoria and Albert Museum gifted this copy to the Danish Church in London, a fitting home for a tribute to the stone that marks the dawn of Christianity in Denmark.