Aakirkeby

Aakirkeby is centrally located on Bornholm and is the only one of the island’s historic market towns situated inland. The town has around 2,000 inhabitants and today functions as a local centre with shops, institutions and cultural facilities serving the surrounding area.

The town takes its name from Aa Church, which was built in the mid-12th century and is regarded as one of Bornholm’s oldest churches. The church bears witness to Aakirkeby’s early importance as an ecclesiastical and administrative centre, and the area around the town has been inhabited since the Middle Ages.

Aakirkeby is also an excellent starting point for experiencing Bornholm’s distinctive geology. The town lies close to the transition between several of the island’s prominent geological formations, where bedrock, fissure valleys and younger sediments meet. This diversity has made the area central to the interpretation of Bornholm’s natural history, notably at the experience centre NaturBornholm, which provides insight into the island’s geological development from prehistoric times to the present day.

With its central position between Rønne and Nexø and its proximity to nature, geology and cultural history, Aakirkeby forms an important hub within Bornholm’s inland landscape.