The Story of "Wilhelmsminde”
Rakni’s Mound has always been a meeting point for the locals, in good times as well as bad. Christiane Koren (1764 - 1815), the wife of the Regional Magistrate, has given us thorough descriptions of this through her chronicles. She wrote a detailed diary from the period when she and her husband lived at the Hovin farm.

Mr. and Mrs. Koren built a pavilion of stone on top of Rakni’s Mound. The building was completed in 1809. It was named ”Wilhelmsminde” in the memory of their son Wilhelm who died of cholera at just 18 years of age. The building was a hexagon, quite large, and had a kitchen with a stove.

Christiane tells us about happiness and sorrow from Wilhelmsminde. She shed tears for her dead son, but the building was also used for dancing, and, in summer, young people used to spend the night there.
Wilhelmsminde was not on Rakni’s Mound for a long time. Christiane Koren died in 1815. Shortly after, Hovin was sold, and her husband, Johan, moved. Wilhelmsminde was then removed from Rakni’s Mound, and it was no longer remembered by the locals. The poet Conrad Schwach (1793 -1860) wrote a poem called “Raknar-Høi” (Rakni’s Height) in Christiane’s memory when she died.

Traces of Wilhelm Koren’s memorial were again revealed during the archaeological investigations in 1869.
Would you like to read Christians Koren’s diaries from the early 1800s? You can borrow them at the library.