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From both inside and outside, the “secret” blends in as an integral part of the building.


A “built-on” toilet

The “secret”

Walk down Havbogade, stand beneath the bay window on the brewery’s façade, and tilt your head back… You will soon realise you are standing beneath a toilet seat. The bay window above you is a so-called “secret” — another word for a privy.

A medieval drop toilet

The “secret” as a construction dates back to the Middle Ages, when such structures were mainly built into castles. This allowed people to relieve themselves indoors, while the waste fell below the wall, into the moat or into a shaft that had to be emptied.

Did you know?

Did you know that the building which today houses Den Gamle By’s brewery originally belonged to a merchant’s house in Aalborg? Here, the “secret” projected over the Vester Å river, rather than over the street.

It is only when you look up that the “secret” reveals itself.

 

There are no surviving images of the “secret” as it once hung over the Vester Å river in Aalborg, but it may have looked like this.