Lamme Fjord

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Life at the bottom of the fjord

With a water depth of seven metres, Lamme Fjord is the world's deepest tract of reclaimed land. The project to drain Lamme Fjord's 5,630 hectares was a vast prospect when it was started in 1872-1874. The initiative came from the enterprising Baron Georg Frederik Zytphen-Adeler of Dragsholm. The new community of Fårevejle arose out of the reclaimed fjord, which proved excellent agricultural land. At the same time, transport connections were greatly improved between Odsherred and the rest of Zealand. It was the dyke constructed in 1874 between Audebo and Gundestrup that took care of the draining, but not until 1943 did the land dry completely.

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German capital in Lamme Fjord

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Story written by Kjeld Hansen

Time / Periode 1874

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While the project to reclaim Lamme Fjord provided 6,000 hectares of new land for a much-truncated Denmark following the lost war with Prussia in 1864, the initiators had to travel as far as Hamburg in Germany to raise capital. The project had been in the pipeline since 1852, but did not get underway for another two decades, and then with German capital and German paperwork. Neither Denmark's government nor its bankers were willing to invest in new land to replace the lost South Jutland. Not until much later did national romanticism conjure up the myth of What is outwardly lost, must be inwardly gained". The motto itself was coined by the poet H.P. Holst for the great industry and arts exhibition in Copenhagen in 1872. "