Thyholm Egnsmuseum (Thyholm Heritage Museum)

A Historic Farmstead at the Heart of Thyholm

Thyholm Egnsmuseum is housed in the old Apothekergården, a historic farm and former pharmacy whose main building can be traced back to at least the mid‑1600s. Thick walls, crooked beams and uneven floors instantly signal that you are in one of Thyholm’s oldest properties, anchored in a village that has existed for around a thousand years. The complex now consists of five closely grouped buildings, each revealing a different aspect of life on this Limfjord peninsula. The transformation into a museum was driven by local painter Kresten Rusbjerg, who owned the property until 1990 and helped shape its intimate, homely feel. The museum opened in the early 1990s, keeping the character of a lived‑in farm rather than a formal gallery. As you move between buildings, low doorways, cobbled surfaces and timbered facades give the impression of wandering through a small, self‑contained hamlet preserved in time.

Inside Rooms Where Everyday History Happened

The main building is arranged as the home of a well‑to‑do family from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Parlours are laid with polished furniture, lace curtains, family portraits and ceramic stoves, offering a sense of daily life before modern conveniences. The former pharmacy is recreated with shelves of bottles and drawers, recalling a time when medicine, advice and local gossip all flowed from the same counter. One room holds the old executive office of Hvidbjerg Bank, complete with solid desk and ledgers, while another preserves the telephone exchange from nearby Uglev, where the web of local communication once passed through a single switchboard. Up in the attic, a small maternity ward from Hvidbjerg Hospital, which operated until around 1972, evokes a poignant slice of social history, from simple equipment to neatly folded linens.

Craft Workshops, Tools and Everyday Skills

In the former farm buildings, a series of craft and trades displays shows how much of life on Thyholm relied on skilled hands. Lead roofing tools, a shoemaker’s bench, carpenter’s saws and planes, and a fully equipped ladies’ hairdressing salon line the rooms. These recreations bring out the textures of leather, wood and metal, and highlight the mix of rural necessity and small‑town sophistication. Nearby, a radio and television exhibition traces technological change from large wooden wireless sets to compact televisions. Arranged chronologically, the sets illustrate how quickly new inventions reshaped local homes. The sense of progression, from heavy dial radios to sleek plastic casings, forms a quiet story of 20th‑century modernity arriving in a remote corner of West Jutland.

Global Connections and a Village School Reborn

One of the most distinctive features is a Greenland exhibition, with artefacts and paintings that hint at ties between Thyholm and the wider Arctic world. Traditional tools, clothing details and landscape images are displayed in a way that contrasts northern ice and fjord scenery with the softer shores of the Limfjord outside. On the grounds stands a careful replica of the old Søndbjerg school, inaugurated in 1997. Inside, wooden desks, inkwells and a prominent teacher’s podium reconstruct a classroom from earlier generations. Chalkboards, maps and simple textbooks reflect an era when education was strict, local and shaped by the agricultural year, yet opened the door to a broader world.

Wilsehaven and the Spirit of Enlightenment

Outdoors, Wilsehaven adds an unexpected baroque flourish to the museum. This miniature garden, inaugurated in 2013, recreates elements of J.N. Wilse’s garden at the rectory in Spydeberg, Norway. Wilse, born the son of a pastor from Søndbjerg in 1736, later became a prominent pastor, professor and Enlightenment figure in Norway. The garden’s structured beds and geometric layout echo 18th‑century ideas about order, nature and knowledge. Strolling its paths links Thyholm’s small village setting to a wider story of Nordic intellectual life. Combined with the historic buildings, workshops, school and Greenland collection, Wilsehaven rounds out a museum that feels like a compact, walkable portrait of local life unfolding over centuries.