Ven Things to Do

Nämndeman means Councillor and this was his farm, now the oldest farmstead on Ven. Today, it is run by the island's heritage association and is one of the top sights on Ven as it shows you what life here was like for most people, i.e. the farmers. It is a typical Scanian-Danish squared farm with an inner yard to protect its people from the ever present wind. The living quarters are in the middle and has lots of interesting furniture and gadgets for those interested in such things. On one side of it is a hall with a handful of carriages (including a very pretty herst which should be displayed more I think). On the other is the barn where you can see the space for cows and horses and also go upstairs to the loft to see where the older generation got to live when the younger one took over the farms. There is also a bit of Ven's maritime history there with bits and bobs from ships and some (Swedish) info on local sailors and what was demanded of them. There is also a room with the history of the many brick works existing on Ven until some decades ago. Today, all you can see remaining on the northern part of the island are some old workers houses which have been turned into cosy houses and cottages.

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Tycho Brahe was a 16th century Danish nobleman who is now known the world over for his astronomical discoveries. He was going to leave Denmark when he became famous but then the Danish king gave him the island of Ven as his fiefdom to make him stay. He did, and as he was also give money regularly, he could build a magnificent Dutch-Italian style red brick castle called Uranienborg, with lots of turrets and other romantic effects. Sadly, it all fell into disrepair in the wars between Denmark and Sweden and also because the following king didn't appreciate Brahe in the same way (see a painting of it on the website below)...but there has been archaeological digs in the area so a lot has been found out about the palace area and how life was there. This fascinating man imposed his own harsh working rules to the farmers of Ven but otherwise seems to have been quite a forward thinking man in the way he dared opposing the church, was never properly married to his wife and so on. You can learn a lot about this in the "New" St Ibb Church from the 19th century, which has been turned into a museum in the grounds and tell you things like who Brahe was, the relation between astronomy, alchemy, astrology and medicine in those days and also a bit about Brahe's pupil Kepler. It also dwells a bit on the technicalities of astronomy in Brahe's days and a bit on what happened to Brahe when he finally had to leave Ven due to king Christian IV and settled in Prague. During the final years on Ven, Brahe had enough of the winds always wrecking his instrument positions and built an underground astronomical observatory called Stjerneborg ("Starburg") When you buy tickets to enter the ground, you are given a time slot to the Stjerneborg experience across the road - see second picture. In high season the light show is done in English and German apart from Swedish. See much more in the travelogue below.

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Ven's second harbour, and the one that is most popular with yachts. Here it is seen from St Ibb Church and if you walk down the hill you will be rewarded with a pretty village with a good restaurant, a fish smokery, a harbour museum (summertime) and a beach. There is also a kiosk for those in need of budget food or just an ice cream and some postcards while they rest.

This Church was built in the 12:th century and it´s located at the top of Kyrkbacken, the view is magnificient!