Lure Blowers
At
the east side of the Town Hall (Rådhus) is one of Copenhagen’s
most legendary
landmark known as “Lurblæserne”.
The two bronze Lure Blowers standing on their Column blowing
an ancient type of trumpet called a Lure, was erected in 1914
and given to the city in 1911 by The New
Carlsberg Foundation in connection with the centenary of the
brewer and founder J.C. Jacobsen's birthday
(1811-1987). The monument is about 20 m high.
The
Column was first set up in 1909, with only
one Lure Blower, when the national exhibition
in Copenhagen opened, and since moved to its present location
near the Town Hall square. The change of using two Lure Blowers
on the monument in stead of one is the reason why the figures
are quite squeezed on the top of the podium. They were then
called “The piled up flour bags”
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In 1909 the
Column was first set up with only one Lure Blower
on Vesterbrogade and since moved to its present
location
at the Town Hall Square. |
|
| The
two Lure Blowers in winter 1927, where they were
finally placed near the Town Square in 1914, as
a gift from the New Carlsberg Foundation. |
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The
Myth
The common myth is that
the blowers will blow their horns if a virgin
passes by the monument.
Bronze
Lures
The Bronze lures date back to the Nordic Bronze Age
(1800 BC) and are formed as S-shaped conical tubes, without
any finger holes and slightly 1.60 m – 2.40 m long,
ending in an embossed metal disk. The lures are blown like
brass instruments and sound like a trombone. A good lure player
can get 10-15 notes from a Bronze Lure.
| The Lure Blowers
at the Town Hall are made of bronze and the monument
together with the Column is totally 20 m high. |
|
| The
Lure from the Bronze Age are one of the oldest
musical instruments in the world, that still can
be played. |
|
Ritual
and religious ceremonies
The lures were used as sonorous instruments and mainly played
at ritual and religious ceremonies,
where the instruments were played in pairs
as the priests led ritual processions, wearing horned helmets.
| Images
of Lure Blowers as petroglyphs on a 3000 year
old stone found in a burial mound from the Bronze
Age. |
|
37
Bronze Lures found in Denmark
The Lures are one of the oldest musical instruments
in the world, and during the past,
37 Bronze Lures were found in Denmark - the last
6 found at “Brudevælte” in
North Zealand in 1797. The “Brudevælte”
Lures, dates back approximately to 800 - 700 BC. and
are in such a fine condition that they still can be played.
5 of the Lures are displayed at the National Museum,
where they can be seen in a glorious set-up. The last Lure
was given as a gift by King Frederik VII
in 1845 to the Russian Czar Nikolaj
I., and can be seen at The Hermitage in St. Petersburg
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