Across the Nordic countries, cultural heritage is everywhere — hidden in forests, marked by solitary rune stones, buried beneath modern cities, or resting quietly along windswept coastlines. Now, a new digital project is making it easier than ever to explore this immense historical landscape. Fornland is a free browser-based web app that brings together more than 1.3 million cultural heritage sites from across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Faroe Islands, and Greenland — all in one interactive map.
For readers of All Things Nordic, it represents something powerful: a new way to experience Nordic history geographically, visually, and intuitively.
A Nordic Idea Born from Fragmented Data
The creator of Fornland, Thor Martin Bærug, has a personal connection to the region. Half Danish and half Icelandic, he has lived and worked across the Nordics for many years and is now based in Norway. His fascination with Nordic cultural landscapes led him to notice a major challenge: Heritage data exists in abundance — but it is scattered across separate national databases, often difficult to navigate or compare. Denmark has Fund og Fortidsminder, Norway has Kulturminnesøk, Sweden has Fornsök, and so on (see the full list at the end of the article). Each system is valuable — but none offers a unified Nordic overview. Fornland was conceived as a way to bring all this knowledge together in one place, enabling both specialists and curious travellers to explore Nordic heritage seamlessly across borders. The project was developed together with digital designer Åsmund Sollihøgda, with input from geographer Björn Emil Härtel Jensen, whose background in urban development and placemaking helped shape the spatial storytelling approach behind the platform.
How Fornland Works
One of Fornland’s most appealing features is its simplicity. There is no app to download. The platform runs entirely in your web browser — on desktop or mobile — making it instantly accessible whether you are planning a trip at home or standing in front of a mysterious mound in the field. Behind the scenes, the app:
• Pulls data directly from open government APIs across seven Nordic countries
• Aggregates and standardises heritage records
• Enriches entries with images and descriptions from sources such as Europeana, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikipedia
• Organises sites into 15 categories, including:
– Viking battlefields
– Rune stones
– Megaliths
– Rock art
– Shipwrecks
– Burial sites
The result is a living, exploratory atlas of Nordic history — one that invites users to zoom in, wander digitally, and discover unexpected stories.
A New Tool for Nordic Travellers and History Lovers
For travellers, Fornland opens up entirely new possibilities. Instead of visiting only the most famous heritage attractions, users can:
• Discover lesser-known archaeological sites near their itinerary
• Understand how landscapes were inhabited across millennia
• Explore cross-border cultural patterns — for example Viking-Age routes or prehistoric settlement zones
For teachers, writers, and researchers, it provides a powerful overview of heritage density and distribution across the Nordic world. And for projects like All Things Nordic, it offers a fascinating editorial angle: history not just as narrative — but as spatial experience.
Digital Heritage and the Future of Nordic Storytelling
Fornland also reflects a broader Nordic trend: using digital tools to democratise access to culture and history. Thor Martin and Åsmund’s wider work with museums — particularly in audio guides and interpretive storytelling — shows how technology can help audiences engage more deeply with a place. In that sense, Fornland is more than a map. It is a platform for cultural discovery, one that could inspire new travel writing, educational projects, and even heritage tourism routes across the Nordic region.
ATN Travel Tip
Before your next Nordic trip, try opening Fornland and zooming into your destination. You may discover that the quiet field behind your hotel hides a Bronze Age burial mound — or that a simple roadside stone marks the memory of a Viking-Age assembly site. In the Nordic world, history is rarely far away. Now, thanks to Fornland, it is also just a click away.
Explore the map: Fornland.com
List of Fornland sources:
Denmark:
Fund og Fortidsminder / Kulturarv.dk (Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces)
Plandata.dk (kulturmiljøer)
SLKS Industrihistoriens Danmarkskort
Norway:
Askeladden / Kulturminnesøk (Riksantikvaren)
Lokalhistoriewiki.no
Sweden:
Fornsök / Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish National Heritage Board)
SHFA — Svenskt Hällristnings Forsknings Arkiv (rock art)
Finland:
Museovirasto (Finnish Heritage Agency) / Kulttuuriympäristön palveluikkuna
Iceland:
Minjastofnun Íslands (Cultural Heritage Agency of Iceland)
Sagnagrunnur (Icelandic folklore database)
Greenland:
NunaGIS (Greenland’s geographic data portal)
Faroe Islands:
Tjóðsavnið (National Museum of the Faroe Islands)
Cross-Nordic enrichment:
Wikipedia / Wikidata / Wikimedia Commons
Europeana
OpenStreetMap
UNESCO
Lex.dk (Danish encyclopaedia)
Lokalhistoriewiki.no
