Guided tours and activities
Food for thought
Experience a really close encounter with abbey life as you listen to life stories from our 900-year history: stories of everyone from monks to the royal family, who used the buildings as their personal hunting lodge.
Book a guided tour for your group or company and get ready for a wealth of inspiration, reflection and sensory impressions. Or, if play and activity are more your thing, try your hand at a puzzle or dilemma game. Either way, we’ll immerse you in history and give you a taste of all the hidden tales.
It’s all about people
It is the encounter between you and us, and our joint encounter with the people of the past that makes this place so special. Many of us share the same thoughts about life, society and the world that surrounds us. These are the big issues we focus on in all our activities and guided tours.
Many lives
Esrum Abbey & Møllegård has housed many lives and served many functions: there has been everything from beliefs and convictions to military strategies and state information about property rights. During World War II, the abbey was a necessary hiding place for texts by the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard and housed personal letters between friends sent to the Esrum post office. Today, when we interpret and mediate culture for our visitors, we mirror ourselves in all the people who lived here before us, maybe finding inspiration for how to live our lives both now and in the future.
Monastic tales
We take a walk around the abbey – on the site of the huge medieval abbey complex and the beautiful abbey garden. You will hear all about the important role the Cistercians played in medieval society. About their important task of praying for the salvation of humanity and the political and economic power this gave them. It may be hard to imagine, but back then Esrum was not a small abbey some backwater, but a large social institution and part of an extensive European network. Many people lived their lives here. We discuss who the monks were. What did they believe in, and why did they opt for a monastic life? What made them choose a life filled with rules and structure – an eternal alternation between rest, prayer and work? 60 minutes, including a short walk in the area. Most of the tour takes place outside, so dress appropriately for the weather.
- Up to 25 people: 1000 kr.
- Up to 50 people: 2000 kr.
- Up to 75 people: 3000 kr.
In addition, a ticket to the monastery is required
Walking and storytelling
If you fancy a walk around the beautiful area, discovering the nature that surrounds the abbey, this is the tour for you. We expand on the story of the abbey and include the monks’ use of the landscape and the surrounding nature. The abbey’s land extended far beyond the central abbey complex. It covered a large area – all the way down to Esrum Lake. The Cistercian monks used their hands; they were skilled craftsmen, builders, farmers and engineers. Our walk takes us around the now non-existent abbey wall, and we paint a picture of the living abbey with its travel stables, utility rooms, barns, animal husbandry, water mills and bell foundry – and much more besides. The walk around the area is about 2 kilometres and takes 90 minutes. Remember sensible footwear and wear weather-appropriate clothes.
- Up to 25 people: 1000 kr.
- Up to 50 people: 2000 kr.
- Up to 75 people: 3000 kr.
In addition, a ticket to the monastery is required
A taste the abbey garden
When the sun is shining and the abbey garden is full of scents, sounds and colours, you really get a sense of the place the monks endeavoured to create – a little earthly paradise. As well as telling you all about the abbey, this guided tour gives you an opportunity to taste history. We bring the story of the monks’ numerous gardens to life: the apothecary garden, the orchard, the hop garden and the vegetable gardens. We smell the herbs and taste some of them. During the tour, you will also be treated to some little samples of our excellent Esrum beer, honey, mustard, jams etc. Everything is made in and by monasteries and convents in Europe. The tour takes 90 minutes. Available only from 1 May to 15 September.
- Up to 25 people: 1000 kr.
- Up to 50 people: 2000 kr.
- Up to 75 people: 3000 kr.
In addition, DKK 125 per person, which covers the ticket price and tastings. Offered only in the period May 1 – September 15.
Puzzle game: The Secret of the White Monks
Do you love solving puzzles and mysteries? If so, our ‘Secret of the White Monks’ puzzle game is just the thing. If you are good at working together and can find all the clues that lie hidden in the old abbey building, you might be able to crack the 7 codes that open 7 mysterious coffins. You are then granted membership of the Lodge of the White Monks, thereby inscribing yourself in the history of the lodge members who guard an 800-year-old secret. Before the game, you will all be given an introduction to the abbey. You then play together in teams of between 2 and 5. Part of the game takes place outdoors, so dress appropriately.
- Up to 25 people: 2000 kr.
- Up to 50 people: 3000 kr
In addition, a ticket to the monastery is required
The Dilemma Game: faith, power and chaos
What would you do if you had the power to make all the most important decisions about the future of Denmark? Find that out by playing ‘Faith, Power and Chaos’. In the large game room, wearing fabulous hats, you will play the role of the noble families who held power in 16th-century Denmark. You have to make a large number of choices, form alliances and take actions to protect your family during the turbulence of pre-Reformation Denmark. Whose side are you on? The nobility, the Church or the people? And which king do you support? Ultimately, it is up to you to decide whether or not Denmark gets reformed! The game takes place inside the abbey building. After a brief introduction to the abbey, a gamemaster will guide you through the game.
- Up to 25 people: 2000 kr.
- Up to 50 people: 3000 kr
In addition, a ticket to the monastery is required
