Landet Churchyard, Tåsinge

Fyn, Tåsinge · Denmark · Cemetery

The tightrope dancer and the Swedish lieutenant walked into Nørreskoven one July morning in 1889 and never came out — they lie in one grave.

Hedvig Jensen performed as Elvira Madigan: tightrope dancer, trick rider, juggler and dancer in her father's circus. Sixten Sparre was a Swedish nobleman and cavalry lieutenant, married and in debt. They fled together to Denmark. On 18 July 1889 they walked out into Nørreskoven on Tåsinge, and the next morning Sparre shot first her and then himself. On 27 July they were buried in the same grave in Landet churchyard in the middle of the island, before a large crowd of locals and summer visitors. The story became one of Scandinavia's most sung and filmed love tragedies almost at once. The grave is still a place of pilgrimage; a new memorial was raised in 2013. The flowers lying there are rarely old, and the wood where it happened begins a few hundred metres away.

FAQ

Where is Landet Churchyard, Tåsinge located?

Landet Churchyard, Tåsinge is in Fyn, Tåsinge, Denmark.