Men at Sea

Four nine-metre white giants gazing across the North Sea from Sædding Beach

The four-metre seated figures — actually nine metres each, but seated — stand on a low rise above Sædding Beach, looking out across Ho Bay toward the open North Sea. Carved from white concrete and modelled on the simple, almost childlike forms favoured by Svend Wiig Hansen, they are the most photographed thing in Esbjerg and the city's most recognisable landmark by a long way.

You can drive or take a bus, but most visitors enjoy the approach by bike or on foot along the harbour path from the centre — about forty minutes one way, with the figures appearing in the distance long before you arrive. The site is unfenced, open at all hours, and especially worth seeing late on a summer evening when the low northern sun lights the figures and the bay turns silver.

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A story
The sculpture was unveiled in 1995 to mark the 100th anniversary of Esbjerg becoming a municipality. Sculptor Svend Wiig Hansen described his quartet as bringing humanity face to face with nature; locals adopted them more cheerfully as 'the boys who keep an eye on the city,' and they have appeared on souvenirs ever since.