The hinterland of Rødby Fjord - Walk with me 5

THE HINTERLAND

OF RØDBY FJORD

Generalstabens historical map of the hinterland and former seabed of Rødby Fjord 1889

1 The entrance of The Memorial Park at the cross-section of two roads. The stone seems small next to the tall trees growing

2 Sometimes the canals hide in the tall grass growing form the slopes of the canals. The water is often green of algae

3 During winter the agricultural surafces are black and naked, waiting for the spring to come

THE HINTERLAND

OF RØDBY FJORD WALK WITH ME 5

The new coastal zone of Rødby Fjord expressed in the previous four site visits and filmic notations have given rise to the question of how far back into the hinterland the former coastal zone used to be. As a tourist in Rødby Fjord, I quickly sensed a lack of information and guidelines to help me navigate the reclaimed inlet. Therefore, this final subchapter focuses on the experienced agricultural surfaced of the reclaimed seabed. Through this filmic notation, I start to get a sense of how big the reclaimed area is. In the orthophoto, in scale 1:10000, you see a part of the reclaimed inlet, with a bird’s perspective on the cultural landscapes that you are confronted with upon crossing the former inlet: windmills, straight roads, canals and the naked black agricultural soils. What you don’t see onsite, but which you discover from above, are the numerous ponds hidden in the farmland. When you compare the historical map to the orthophoto, you find yourself in the middle of the former inlet. Just the tip of the island Lang appears in the bottom right corner. In this orthophoto, the memorial park appears in the north with a clearing around the memorial stone. It was on the way back home from Skarresø that I passed the park to the left, and just barely missed the stone in the cross-section between Mindestensvej and Langeliniee. The street name sign exposed the secret, which was hiding to my left. The historical picture of the memorial stone, in chapter 2: Context and History, displays the grandiosity of the reclamation of Rødby Fjord, with the stone standing as an isolated element in the vast muddy seabed. Today, the stone seems awkwardly disproportionate in its surroundings as these do not display—even remotely—the width of the reclaimed seabed. In the following and final filmic notation, you get an insight into an abstract universe in which the structures of the farmland slowly dissolve as hidden ponds emerge from the soils.