The chief town, Rönne, is charming, with its many low-roofed houses, which overlook the Baltic. It is noted for its terra-cotta ware, clocks, and Museum of Antiquities.
Most of the towns are upon the coast. Four singular round churches, built of granite, were formerly used as places of refuge for the people when beset by pirates. These "Rundkirker" are peculiar to Bornholm.
A high festival is celebrated every year on the anniversary of the day when the inhabitants succeeded in throwing off the Swedish yoke, which they had borne for a short time in the seventeenth century with resentment.
Hammershus Castle, on the northern extremity of Bornholm, was built in the thirteenth century. There is a sad tale connected with this romantic castle, about a Danish noble and his wife. This noble, Corfitz Ulfeldt, was imprisoned there for treason. His beautiful wife, Eleonora, the favourite daughter of Christian IV., accompanied him, preferring imprisonment with him to liberty without him. After the Count died, Eleonora, who had a mortal enemy in Queen Caroline Amalia, was sent by the latter to the "Blaataarn"[10] of Slotsholmen, Copenhagen, and there incarcerated for twenty-two years. The illustrious Eleonora was only liberated on the death of the vindictive Queen, but the long years of captivity—without reason—had wrecked her life.
Læsö is a small island in the Cattegat, the inhabitants of which are mainly farmers and fishermen, and the old women wear a particular costume for Sunday, which is called the "church costume."
The people of Amager are great market-gardeners. They are of Dutch extraction. Christian II., after flying from his country, took refuge in Holland, and some of the Dutch helped him in trying to regain his throne. For this service he gave his Dutch followers the island of Amager. The descendants of these Dutch people still retain their old customs and characteristics. Clattering about in wooden shoes, the old women, in quaint costume, may be seen driving their geese down the picturesque streets to the meadows. Besides being market-gardeners and florists, these Amager folk rear and fatten the geese for the Christmas market.
The natural beauty of the island of Möen is striking, and unlike the rest of Denmark. "Möen's Klint" are great, jagged white cliffs rising abruptly from the sea. Enchanting beech-woods thickly crown the summit, giving distinctive and unusual beauty to it. From Sommerspiret, the highest point, we have an extensive view over the Østersöen and Köjge Bay, where the famous victory over the Swedes was won by Niels Juel in 1677.
In Denmark the town-crier beats a drum to draw attention to the notice he is about to give.
Danish postmen present a gorgeous appearance, in red coats, with smart cloaks of the same brilliant hue for winter wear. These and the bright yellow mail-vans, which they drive sometimes, arrest attention, and give importance to the carriers of His Majesty's mails.
In many of the houses the "Forhöjning" is still used. This is a raised platform close to the window, on which the lady of the house sits to do her embroidery. While she is here she can follow all that goes on in the street below by an ingenious arrangement of oblique convex mirrors fixed to the outside of the window, and reflecting the life in the streets both ways.