The exhibits at the Dyer’s Yard (Farvergården) fill three stories. On the second floor thematic exhibits, in the attic, craftsmen’s workshops and in the cellar, exhibits about women’s work.
A Child’s World
This exhibit tells about childhood in the olden days, about conditions for Kerteminde children from cradle to confirmation (at age 14).
Until relatively recently, it was common to swaddle infants to make sure they grew up straight – this also spared the adults from too much bother. After christening, the child was dressed in Christian Clothes, which had expensive brocade ribbons and were a status symbol.
For those children who survived the first, dangerous years, their world was essentially a copy of the adults’. Their toys were often copies of adult tools and their dolls with furnishings usually reflect changing adult tastes. Until the turn of the 20th century, almost all dolls represented adults. After this time, baby dolls and dolls that looked like little girls came into play.
Fishermen
For hundreds of years, fishing was the most important profession in Kerteminde. The fisheries exhibit tells especially about so-called Belt fishing, the search for herring in the Great Belt (Storebælt). Especially after transportation was markedly improved around 1900, Belt fishing became the most important income source for Kerteminde, contributing also to the new fish packing plants.
Herring was the most important species of fish for the Kerteminde fisheries, but eel fishing played a prominent secondary role.
Herring was caught in the Great Belt while eel fishing went on primarily in Kerteminde Fjord. The exhibit shows equipment for both kinds of fishing.
Crime and Punishment
A cell door leads into a small exhibit about criminals housed in the Kerteminde Jail, which was closed in 1970. With its original furnishings and equipment, it will give you a feel of “doing time” in the local gaol.
In addition, we have copies of some of the earlier instruments of punishment, such as the “Spanish Cloak” for men and the “Fiddle” for women (see picture), as well as neck irons and the public stocks, which stood in front of the town hall on the square.
Skilled Trades and Handicrafts
The attic level at the Dyer’s Yard (Farvergården) contains seven different workshops from the period around 1900. You can visit:
• The photographer
• The Saddlemaker
• The Wooden Shoemaker
• The Wheelwright and Carriage Maker
• The Clockmaker
• The Sail Loft
• The Shoemaker
In the cellar you can see a blacksmith’s shop from the same period as well as equipment for brewing beer, moulding candles, washing laundry and mangling (rolling) it. We even have one of the earliest hand-powered washing machines! There are tools and moulds for making cheese and churning butter, too.
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