Erichsens Gård, Rønne

A time capsule in Laksegade

Erichsens Gård is one of Rønne’s most evocative historic houses, a low, timbered dwelling wrapped around a cobbled courtyard just off the town’s old streets. Dating from the early 19th century and later expanded, it was once home to the Erichsen family, well‑to‑do townspeople whose world revolved around trade, culture and island life. Crossing the threshold today, you enter a carefully preserved domestic interior rather than a conventional museum hall. Creaking floorboards, low ceilings and small‑paned windows set the tone as you move from room to room. The layout still follows the logic of a busy household: parlour, dining room, bedrooms and work spaces nestle close together, linked by narrow passages. Furniture stands where it would have been used, creating the sense that the family has only just stepped outside.

Everyday life behind painted facades

The heart of Erichsens Gård lies in its authentic interiors. Painted wooden panelling, tiled stoves and simple yet handsome furniture tell the story of a respectable 19th‑century town family on Bornholm. Tableware, textiles and personal objects are displayed in situ, giving tangible form to habits and rituals that shaped daily routines. Oil lamps, sewing baskets, children’s toys and writing desks help you imagine long winter evenings spent reading or doing handiwork while winds swept in from the Baltic. In the kitchen, worn worktops, utensils and storage jars evoke the labour that kept the household running. This focus on the ordinary makes the house unusually vivid: rather than highlighting a single dramatic event, it quietly reveals the texture of middle‑class life in a small Danish port.

Artistic circles and island culture

Erichsens Gård is also known for its links to Denmark’s cultural life. Artists and writers visiting Bornholm were frequent guests here, part of the circle that helped establish the island as a retreat for creative minds. Paintings, drawings and personal mementos scattered through the rooms hint at these connections, showing how national currents in art and literature flowed through even a modest provincial home. Bornholm’s distinct identity – shaped by seafaring, trade routes and its strategic Baltic position – is present in many details, from portraits of local ships to decorative objects influenced by far‑flung contacts. The house thus bridges private and public history: it is both a family residence and a window onto the island’s broader cultural story.

A hidden garden in the heart of town

Step outside and you find yourself in a sheltered courtyard leading to a surprisingly lush back garden. Fruit trees, flowering borders and simple gravel paths recreate the kind of town garden that once provided both beauty and sustenance. In summer the air carries the scent of herbs and blossoms, and the high fences and surrounding roofs create a peaceful pocket away from Rønne’s streets. This outdoor space underlines how self‑contained such households could be: a place to relax, to grow food, to dry laundry and to host quiet gatherings. It also offers changing impressions with the seasons, from fresh spring greens to autumn colours and low, golden light filtering between the trees.

Visiting a museum that feels like a home

Today Erichsens Gård is managed as one of Bornholms Museum’s four departments, and visiting it complements time spent at the main cultural history museum in town. The experience here is deliberately small‑scale: there are no large installations, only rooms, objects and stories presented with care. Because the house and garden are compact, you can explore at a gentle pace, pausing to notice details – a worn stair tread, a handwritten label, the pattern on a bedspread. Seasonal openings mean that light, temperature and planting change through the year, subtly altering the atmosphere. Whether you are drawn by architecture, social history or simply the charm of old houses, Erichsens Gård offers an intimate, slow encounter with Bornholm’s past at the scale of a single family home.