Mumiengrotte

The Mumiengrotte is a peculiarity that sits in the Mariendal valley park west of the city centre — a low cave entrance in an artificial grotto, inside which an ancient stone sarcophagus rests on a plinth. The origin of the sarcophagus is uncertain, but it is generally believed to be of ancient Egyptian or Levantine origin, brought back to Flensburg by a wealthy merchant in the early 1800s.

The grotto is unlocked and open at all times, sitting in a public park with no signage or interpretation. This is part of its appeal: finding it requires some knowledge and a short walk through a pleasant wooded valley. It is genuinely one of the stranger things in this part of Germany, and it costs nothing.

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A story
The Mumiengrotte — Mummy's Cave — is exactly what it sounds like: a small artificial cave in a public park containing a stone sarcophagus of ancient origin. The sarcophagus was reportedly acquired in the early nineteenth century by a Flensburg merchant trading in the eastern Mediterranean and installed in the garden as a decorative object, which was fashionable at the time. It has remained there, open to the elements and overlooked by most visitors, for nearly two hundred years.

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