Læsø Salt Works

Facts

Islanders find the salt of life

By Mette Svart Kristiansen, Middelalderarkæolog (10 stories)

The islanders of Læsø produced salt in special salt-seething huts in the Middle Ages. At Læsø Salt Works, you can explore the art of transforming saltwater into the finest quality salt. A couple of the salt-seething huts have been reconstructed following archaeological excavations. They are part of the Læsø Salt Works project that Jens Vellev, an archaeologist specialising in the Middle Ages, initiated in 1990 as a research and experience centre for tourists. Today, the huts produce 75 tons of salt using the original method employed in the Middle Ages. The project has developed into a popular attraction with about 40,000 visitors a year.

Public place

Selected entry

Hunting for the island's white gold

Story written by Mette Svart Kristiansen

Time / Periode 1100 1652

2 Comments 1 recommendations

Salt was once a vital preservative. Good salt was therefore valuable. In the Middle Ages and the renaissance, Læsø islanders paid duties in salt to the canons in Viborg. No one knows whether the islanders also produced salt for sale. Concentrated saltwater can be found under the salt marshes at the beach on Læsø, which is unusual, and layers of pure brine could be collected in wells. The brine was then boiled or seethed to produce a product as high-quality as the famous Lüneburg salt. Salt production stopped in 1652 because seething salt in the huts required large amounts of fuel. By then, the salt industry had used up all the fuel wood on the island. Sand drifts had transformed the island into a windswept desert. Salt was still made from brine as a cottage industry until the middle of the 19th century. The ruins of the old huts where the salt was boiled are still standing as low, square embankments. There are an estimated 1,000 of them on the island.