Pernille Lykke’s Dwellings

Enter the original, tiny paupers’ dwellings from 1657 and step back in time to discover the 1940 apartment of the poor widow Ane Kathrine, and the lives of the poor people who lived here in the 1600s. It feels like travelling back in time. History is tangible!

A noblewoman’s charity

Noblewoman Pernille Lykke had these houses built in 1617. According to the statutes, one of the houses was to be a poorhouse, established as free accommodation for “three honest, needy women and two boys, fatherless and motherless”. The other house was for rent. The rent income paid for fuel to heat the poorhouse.

The town and life in perspective

The market stalls also have stories to tell. Crowds of poor people lived from hand to mouth all their lives in many quarters of the city, including the area around Hans Christian Andersen’s House, close to Møntergården. Today, this area is an exclusive address. Maybe your visit will inspire you to consider your life in comparison to others’?

Knick-knacks and chamber pots

Over the centuries, these cottages were a modest theatre of human destiny. The destinies of most of the residents were forgotten a long time ago. When you enter the 1940 apartment, you will see a home that contains everything from a deck of cards and street mirrors to chamber pots and a gas appliance that looks exactly how it did when the last widow left the house.