Jens Bang's House

The son of Sidsel Jørgensdatter by her second marriage to Oluf Bang, he was consequently the half-brother of Aalborg's mayor, Jørgen Olufsen, who had already built a mansion higher up the Østerå street.

No doubt as a result of Bang's excellent relationship with the king, he was able to call upon the finest designers and craftsmen of the times, possibly employing Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger as his architect.

Bang's own rooms on the first floor were lit by a row of enormous windows with sandstone frames, some single, some double without any regularity.

There were a number of other alterations around 1712: in addition to modifications to the main entrance and adjacent windows, finely plastered Baroque ceilings were added to two of the first-floor rooms, probably at the initiative of Johannes-Friedenreich.

For a time, the top of the south gable was replaced by a hip roof but was reconstructed in 1916 during comprehensive restoration work under Harald Lønborg-Jensen.

Among the property's additional buildings on Adelgade and Cortesgyde, one of the rooms in the south wing has a Late Gothic vaulted ceiling which has survived from Københavns gård.

[4] During the Thirty Years' War, the house was occupied by the Germans from 1627 to 1629 while Jens Bang fled to Marstrand awaiting their departure.

As Bang had no direct descendants, ownership of the house was divided between a number of inheritors until in 1671, the pharmacist Johannes Friederich bought the buildings and opened his Swaneapotek (Swan Pharmacy) there.

[4] The building is owned by the fund "Apoteker S.C. Strøybergs Fond til Bevarelse af Jens Bangs Stenhus".

In premises open to visitors, the shelves display fine old receptacles and equipment including a container used to mix 70 ingredients to make theriaken which was said to have been effective in strengthening the weak.