A supermarket, an arterial road, a fast food restaurant. At first glance, the Danish town of Næstved (pronounced [ˈnestve̝ð]) has nothing more striking to offer than an old castle with a park and an old barracks that has been converted into a cultural center. In the local museum, which they call the Næstved Museum for the sake of simplicity, there is a diorama that shows Næstved as it looked around the year 1600. Exactly!
Town of Næs and Tved
The town is famous for having the largest high school in Denmark, which has the imaginative name Næstved Gymnasium - yes, they are not particularly concerned with external appearance here. They even derived the name of their town, whose roots go back to the period between 400 and 500 BC, from two everyday terms: Næs and Tved.
Tved means "cleared forest" and "Næs" is the Danish word for a small peninsula. There is hardly a better way to describe a town that is located where Næstved is.
This also applies to a real diamond that is hidden behind that very supermarket in an old, long-abandoned factory site.
The Næstved Car Museum - what else could it be called - is a private collection of vintage cars, motorcycles, mopeds, agricultural machinery and aircraft that fills more than 3,400 square meters of exhibition space on three floors.
In addition, there are 50 small workshops and shops from the 1950s, including deceptively realistic replicas of grocery stores, a dental clinic, a cinema and a driving school.
Vehicles from all over the world
But the main thing here are the original vehicles from all over the world. The collectors have squeezed 175 cars and 100 motorcycles and mopeds from all over the world into the building.
Sören, who does the admission, is particularly proud of the fact that they had to cover parts of the roof for this purpose. "There was no other way to bring the cars into the building," he says. But now they are standing here, close together, an experience not just for car freaks, but for the whole family.
So much rust, so much scrap, so many elegant lines from times long past, big brands and magical names. Founder Peder Spandet, who runs a car scrap workshop south of Næstved, is one of the Danes who, like many Swedes and Norwegians, feels a loving passion for old cars in particular.
The museum opened in 2012. At first the cars came from Spandet's workshop, but since then many beautiful and rare examples have been bought.
The Chevrolet of the Olsen Gang
The Olsen Gang's legendary road cruiser is on the first floor, with an Egon Olsen doll in the back. Peder Spandet saved the Chevrolet from the scrap press. "It's really fun to have the real car here," said the museum owner, who himself owns a car that is remarkably similar to the famous Chevrolet. At first he thought he had just stumbled upon another copy.
But then the former owner of the original car from the Olsen Gang films contacted him and told him that he owned the original version of the car with the license plate KD 22.528.
Peder Spandet is an obsessive. He originally did an apprenticeship as a carpenter and rebuilt cars in his free time, but after his apprenticeship he became more interested in cars than in the carpentry profession. So he gradually started buying up cars, repairing them and selling them at auction.
The private Car Museum
After a few years, more and more cars came to the site and the company was given the name "Næstved Autoophug", as it is still called today. The boss founded his car museum with the most beautiful treasures - completely privately, without help, only supported by volunteers who are just as enthusiastic about vintage cars, rust and old oil as he is.
Next to them are knick-knacks from all over the world, a feast for the eyes and reason enough for a tour of the three floors to drag on forever. All the oddities of automobile construction are gathered here, from the Italian electric car from the 70s to the East German plastic bomber Trabant and racing cars, Mercedes camper vans and Henkel scooters.
Next to them are rows of ancient mobile phones, shelves full of beer bottles and hundreds of baseball caps hanging from the ceiling.
The treasure of town
What a treasure trove in a town that, according to archaeological findings, was inhabited long before the Viking Age. However, modern times in Næstved only began in 1135, when Benedictine monks used St. Peter's Church and the surrounding land to establish St. Peter's Priory.
This is considered the founding of the town of Næstved, although the town apparently already existed at that time and was as large as it was important for the region.
Valdemar IV of Denmark (Valdemar Atterdag), depicted on a fresco in St. Peter's Church in Næstved (Sankt Peders Kirke), then gave it even more importance, and today it has various museums, concert halls, theaters and exhibitions of all kinds. But anyone visiting Næstved cannot miss the Næstved Car Museum.
Thank you for reading and if you like my work please follow me on Hive, Travelfeed or Steem or visit my homepage koenau.de
