Damestenen

Damestenen lies north of Hesselager and is Denmark’s largest boulder on land. It has rested here for around 18,000 years after a glacier transported it from present-day Sweden during the last Ice Age. Along the way, the boulder was rounded and polished before becoming lodged in the ground near Hesselager. Marks on its surface still reveal the movement of the ice.

The light reddish-grey rock consists of granite and sections with structures suggesting gneiss. Folds and bands of light and dark minerals reflect geological processes involving high pressure and temperature. Much later, glaciers broke the rock free from the bedrock and carried it to Denmark.

Damestenen is open to the public, with parking nearby as well as picnic tables and benches. The boulder is part of Geopark The South Fyn Archipelago, which explores the links between the region’s geology, nature and cultural history and the landscape shaped by the Ice Age and subsequent rise in sea level.