Esbjerg and Man Meets the Sea

Svend Wiig Hansen'S Four 9 Metre White Seated Figures, Unveiled In 1995 On The Wadden Sea Shore At Esbjerg, Beside The Fisheries And Maritime Museum · Esbjerg, Region of Southern Denmark

Man Meets the Sea (Mennesket ved Havet) is a group of four white seated men, each about 9 metres tall, staring out over the Wadden Sea from the beach at Saedding Strand on the north-west edge of Esbjerg, Denmark's big west-coast port. The Danish artist Svend Wiig Hansen made them for the city's 125th anniversary, and they were unveiled in 1995; the figures are cast in white concrete, deliberately stiff and pure, meant to show people meeting nature. They are free, open all the time and have become the symbol of Esbjerg. Beside them stands the Fisheries and Maritime Museum, with an aquarium, a seal pool with feedings and old fishing boats, so the sculpture and the museum make one easy outing. Esbjerg itself is a young town, founded around 1868 as Denmark's new North Sea harbour, and today a hub for offshore wind; it is also the ferry port for the island of Fano. The honest caveat: the city is practical rather than pretty, the sculpture takes twenty minutes, and the west wind can be fierce - pair it with the museum, Fano or Ribe.

Man Meets the Sea at Saedding Strand, Esbjerg, with the Fisheries and Maritime Museum nearby, Esbjerg, Region of Southern Denmark, Denmark

The sculpture stands outdoors on the shore and is free and accessible 24 hours a day, all year; it is lit in the dark. The Fisheries and Maritime Museum next door is normally open daily year-round, with longer hours in summer and shorter hours in winter, and closed on a few holidays - check the current schedule and seal-feeding times. From Copenhagen, direct InterCity trains reach Esbjerg in roughly 2 hours 40 minutes to 3 hours; by car it is about 280 km, roughly 3 hours via the Great Belt Bridge (toll). From the city centre the sculpture is about 4 km: a city bus towards Saedding or Hjerting, a taxi, a bike or a coastal walk of roughly an hour. Nothing needs booking except groups; the Fano ferry needs no reservation for foot passengers.

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