Jelling stones defaced

In Jelling, a small town in Jutland, Denmark, two massive rune stones stand on top of a huge hill. The stones are grave stones, or memorial stones.

One of the stones was put up by Gorm the Old, as a memorial for his wife, Thyra.  The other one was put up their son, Harald Bluetooth, both as a memory of his parents, and as a way to brag about his conquest of Denmark and Norway and his conversion of the Danes to Christianity.

I remember seeing the stones as a teenager, and thinking they were very impressive. Later, we also studied them in my Norwegian class.

Last night, someone with a spray can of green paint defaced a bit of Danish royal history. The stones, as well as the nearby church, have been tagged with graffiti. The signature tagged says Gelwan E.

You can see a picture of the stones before the graffiti here.

A case of old text tradition meeting new text tradition, but not a pretty mash-up, in my opinion.

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