Middelfartkrukken - The Middelfart Pot

The Middelfart Pot – where new things take root

They mark places where something new is taking shape. A pocket park beginning to grow. A construction site where the future is still just drawings. A building that recently found its form. Clay and ceramics have always been part of this town's history. But these pots don't just look back. They're mobile landmarks for a city in motion. An invitation to explore. Not for what's been forgotten, but for what's new. What doesn't yet exist, but will soon be part of the city we share.
 

The pots are part of the Ceramic Route and connect to the city council's work on developing the town. Green urban spaces are being created, experience-rich connections formed, and a town centre being drawn closer together.
The pots don't take root. They move, as Middelfart changes. To wherever the new is arriving.

On the map below – find all locations and explore on foot or by bike.

Middelfart Town Hall
Decisions are made in this building. Not all at once. But over time, in meetings, in budgets, in visions that slowly become reality. The town hall is the centre of democracy in Middelfart. This is where the city council gathers. Where elected representatives work on what will become parks, stations, public spaces and connections. Every place where the Middelfart Pot now stands started here. The pot in the town hall foyer isn't decoration. It's a symbol that development is at the very heart of the city. And that all development begins with a political choice.

Trådværket
The site lies open. The water is close. Once, this was heavy industry. Now there's potential for life – for people and nature alike.
In 2019, Middelfart Municipality purchased the old industrial harbour. Since then, the area has gone through citizen involvement, a vision competition and a development plan that now outlines Middelfart's climate laboratory, right on the banks of Lillebælt. An urban district with the ambitious goal of becoming one of Denmark's most sustainable areas – where innovative solutions, minimal climate footprint and increased biodiversity are not add-ons, but the foundation.
Trådværket isn't just meant to be a new neighbourhood. It's meant to bind the town centre and surrounding areas more tightly together – so all residents can feel ownership of this piece of the city by the water.

Maritim Center Lillebælt
The old clubhouse had stood there since 1932. The wood was damp. Plans for something new began as early as 2007.
Eighteen years later, Maritim Center Lillebælt opened on 2 October 2025. A new centre at the Old Harbour, bringing together diving, nature education and community life. The Blue Bridge provides direct access to Lillebælt and is used for diving, mussel farming and events centred on the strait.
The place isn't just for divers. It's a meeting point for anyone curious about life beneath the surface of one of Northern Europe's most species-rich waters.

Middelfart Train Station
The train stops. The doors open. For many, this is where Middelfart begins or ends.
Stations are places of transition. Places you're already leaving before you've properly arrived. Middelfart Station is itself in transition – like so many others, still just a place you pass through. But Middelfart Municipality and DSB are working together to change that. To give the station the same warmth the rest of the town already holds.
The Middelfart Pot is planted here as a first sign. A signal that you've arrived somewhere that welcomes you. That there's something worth waiting for, something worth coming back to.

Middelfart Marina
The marina has always belonged to those with a boat. Now, it will belong to the rest of us too.

In recent years, a lot has happened at Middelfart Marina. Gradually, the harbour has transformed and opened itself towards the town – and towards the people who have never had a berth. The beach has been extended. A new bathing jetty has been added. A skate park. Winter swimming at the pier. Paths connecting the marina with Middelfart town centre and the Hindsgavl peninsula.

A marina in the process of becoming something else: a place by the water for everyone who wants to get closer to Lillebælt.

Algade / Søndergade
On the way to the shops, to a coffee, to somewhere else. But something has happened here.

At the junction of Søndergade and Algade – midway between Nytorv and Gammeltorv – a green pause has been created in the flow of everyday life. Seating has been put out. On Friday evenings in summer, there is live music. It has become a place that invites you to stop for a while, not just to pass through.

The Middelfart Pot stands here as a visible sign that this corner, too, is on the move. The temporary is a method. Public spaces evolve. They can be shaped by those who have something to say – a concert, a small market, an idea. Like the town itself, the square is a space of possibility, waiting for those who want to put it to use.

Mind Museum
The building has stood here since 1888. For over 100 years, doors closed behind thousands of people – some for just a short time, others for most of their lives. Now they open again.

On 30 May 2026, Mind Museum opened in the former patient building at Middelfart Sindssygehospital. 600 m² of exhibitions tell the history of psychiatry. Through objects, facts – and above all through questions. The exhibitions bring together the perspectives of patients, relatives and staff, inviting dialogue rather than one-way communication. There is also a children's guide, where the children lead the adults around.

Outside, a sensory garden has been laid out, inspired by historical treatment methods. Around the year 1900, people were already working with the idea that nature, movement and fresh air can matter to the mind. A barefoot path, outdoor seating areas and green spaces are a reinterpretation of the old garden.

CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art Denmark
This is where the route ends. Or begins?
CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art Denmark is the largest museum of ceramic art in the Nordic region. Since 1994 it has been located here by Lillebælt in the listed manor house Grimmerhus from 1857 – surrounded by a sculpture park with views across the water. In 2015 a new extension opened, almost invisibly carved into the hillside beneath the park.
The Ceramic Route begins at CLAY's entrance. Two of the The Middelfart Pot stand here. A full stop and a beginning at once. Made from the same material as much of what exists behind the walls: clay, shaped and fired.

The clay, the fire and the artist behind The Middelfart Pot
The Middelfart Pot were created by ceramicist and sculptor Per Ahlmann at Tommerup Keramiske Værksted. The 20 pots were cast in plaster moulds and made from stoneware clay, then fired at 1,260°C. All share the same basic form, but no two are alike. The glaze gives each pot its own expression.
 

The forms bring together the organic and the geometric. The points along the sides are inspired by Middelfart's maritime past – ship's wheels and compass roses. The glaze colours draw from what surrounds the town: the deep green of the forest, the clarity of the sea, the shifting light of the weather. On each pot, a short sentence is engraved – written by Ahlmann himself. Words that create a small pause and give cause to reflect on life, art and community.
 

Tommerup Keramiske Værksted is one of Denmark's most specialised ceramic studios, with large kilns and the expertise to realise large-scale art projects for artists and designers from Denmark and abroad. Per Ahlmann's own works carry traces of something both industrial and organic. Forms that can resemble machine parts or body parts. Glazes that highlight and subdue. The duality between the familiar and the unfamiliar is a recurring theme. Since 2023, he has been director and owner of the studio.