Culture News in Brief: Danish Cold War era bunker fortifying plans as World Heritage site

Elsewhere, Liam Gallagher, Kendrick Lamar and a very tired finch hit Denmark, while Nelson Mandela will not

The Historical Museum of Northern Jutland is currently working on a plan to get the Danish bunker Regan Vest approved as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Completed during the Cold War in 1969, the nuclear bunker is situated 60 metres underground just south of Aalborg in Rold Forest. It was designed to be a secure area for the Danish government and Royal House to operate from in case of a military emergency situation.

“It’s the museum’s clear attitude that Regan Vest is an obvious candidate for a world heritage site as an international perspective in maintaining state sovereignship and the democratically-elected leadership during conflict,” the Historical Museum of Northern Jutland wrote in a press release.

“Regan Vest is an exceptional structure that is unique due to its function, architecture, condition and location.”

READ MORE: UNESCO designates Møn as Denmark first biosphere reserve

Eighth wonder of Denmark?
The news came after the culture minister, Mette Bock, urged Denmark’s museums to come up with ideas for a new Danish proposal for the esteemed world heritage list.

The museum expects that a decision regarding Regan Vest’s candidacy for the noted site list won’t be made until 2021 at the earliest.

Denmark currently has seven locations on the UNESCO World Heritage list, including the Viking rune stones in Jelling, Roskilde Cathedral, Kronborg Castle and Stevns Klint. Read more about them here (in English).


Liam Gallagher hitting Northside
Northside Festival has revealed that Liam Gallagher, one of the more controversial members of ’90s British giga band Oasis, will perform at the festival this summer. It will be the first time that Gallagher has performed in Denmark as a solo artist, previously touring the world with Oasis until he left following a much-publicised spat with his brother Noel and other band members. Gallagher produced some albums with Beady Eye after splitting with Oasis, but last year he returned to prominence with his first solo album ‘As You Were’.

Lamar and Larsen at Smukfest
The line-up for the 2018 edition of the Smukfest festival has been released and rap fans in attendance can look forward to superstar Kendrick Lamar busting out some rhymes this summer. Aside from Lamar, the Danish legend Kim Larsen will be at Smukfest after feeling up to perform again in the wake of his prostate cancer diagnosis. Smukfest was in high demand this year, selling out in just 30 minutes.

Bornholm world’s best island?
The Danish island Bornholm is apparently in the running to be named the world’s best island by the international travel magazine Travel+Leisure. The ‘Sunshine Island’, as Bornholm is known in Denmark, is a candidate in the magazine’s annual ‘World’s Best Awards’, which are decided by the millions of readers of the magazine. Last year the world’s best island title went to Palawan in the Philippines.

Mandela museum plans scrapped
It has been revealed that plans to establish a museum dedicated to Nelson Mandela in Randers have been shelved. The museum could have been the first of its kind outside South Africa, but the foundation behind the initiative, Long Walk to Freedom Initiative, has decided to pull the plug and instead establish the museum elsewhere. Randers Municipality and the foundation had discussed the museum plans for the past 18 months.

Finch in record flight from China
Larger bird species are known for travelling immense distances as part of seasonal migrations, but now a little bird has turned the heads of Danish bird enthusiasts. Just after Christmas, a finch flew into a ringing net north of Skagen following a 6,953 km journey that had started in Heilongjiang Province in China. It’s the longest-proven migration of a ringed small bird from the Far East to Denmark.





  • How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    Being part of a trade union is a long-established norm for Danes. But many internationals do not join unions – instead enduring workers’ rights violations. Find out how joining a union could benefit you, and how to go about it.

  • Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals are overrepresented in the lowest-paid fields of agriculture, transport, cleaning, hotels and restaurants, and construction – industries that classically lack collective agreements. A new analysis from the Workers’ Union’s Business Council suggests that internationals rarely join trade unions – but if they did, it would generate better industry standards.

  • Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    The numbers are especially striking amongst the 3,477 business and economics students polled, of whom 31 percent elected Novo Nordisk as their favorite, compared with 20 percent last year.