The Hærvej hiking route passes through Bække. Runestones, a Romanesque church and several works of art add their own cultural and historical highlights. The landscape also tells the story of the town’s roads. This offers different ways to explore during a stay: the hiking route, archaeological remains and art connected to the Hærvej.

Runestones and Bække Church

Bække Runestone 2 stands as a prow stone in a ship setting. The inscription on Bække Runestone 1 names Ravnunge-Tue, Fundin and Gnyple as the three who built Thyra’s mound. The two runestones therefore each have a specific connection: one is part of a ship setting, while the other preserves the names of the mound builders.

Bække Church is a Romanesque village church dating from the 12th century. A runestone by the church was uncovered in 1807. The cemetery has an area with 20 gravestones of local historical significance, connected to Bække’s role as a central hub on the Hærvej. The church, the discovery and the gravestones thus illustrate different aspects of the town’s history, without all belonging to the same period or sharing the same historical context.

Klebæk Mounds and the history of the route

Klebæk Mounds comprise two domed Bronze Age burial mounds and a 45-metre-long ship setting. A medieval wagon track runs across the monument and represents a small part of the old Hærvej. The remains differ in both form and period: the burial mounds date to the Bronze Age, while the wagon track dates to the Middle Ages.

This contrast brings the layered history of the place to life without suggesting that the individual structures all belong to a single building phase. Visitors interested in archaeology will find a distinctive ship-shaped structure, burial mounds and a trace of the historic route.

Art connected to the Hærvej

The Mermaid Fountain is a granite work by Niels Hansen Jacobsen. It has stood at its current location in Bække Anlæg since 1977. The Hærvej sculpture in Bække consists of a larger stone with a carved relief and two upright stones set up behind it. The relief depicts fragments of life that may have unfolded along the old Hærvej in earlier generations. This interpretation is deliberately presented as a possibility, not a certainty.

Another work is Hærvejens Tidstavle: the 3.4-metre-high ceramic relief is on the west gable wall of the confirmation house beside Bække Church. Its eleven panels show typical elements from different periods in the history of the Hærvej, from the Cretaceous period to the present day. While the sculpture uses a relief and stones, the Tidstavle arranges its motifs in separate panels. The two works thus offer different ways of engaging with the Hærvej.

Hiking, landscape and navigation

The Hærvej hiking route passes through Bække. The town also lies on a watershed: water flows from there either east or west. In ancient times, the ridge was used as a route because it meant crossing fewer streams. This feature of the landscape gives a specific reason for the historic route and adds to the picture provided by the archaeological remains.

Hærvejshuset offers an indoor space to rest and an exhibition about the Hærvej. As facilities can change over time, check the latest information before your visit. Bække has bus stops served by routes 111 and 179. Route 111 runs between Vejle, Bække and Vejen; route 179 between Vejen and Grindsted. Routes and timetables may change, so check the service for your travel date.

Discover more destinations: Lintrup, Jels, Vejen Municipality, Holsted, Vejen, Hovborg, Brørup Parish, Glejbjerg.

See the overview of the wider area: Vejen Municipality.