Archaeologists have uncovered the site of St Clare’s Monastery in Roskilde, Denmark, which was found using radar around a metre beneath a sports field
13:12, 21 Aug 2026Updated 13:14, 21 Aug 2026
The remains of St Clare’s Monastery have been found below a sports field(Image: Nationalmuseet/NIKU/Cover Images)
Amazingly well preserved remains of a long lost 13th century convent have been found beneath a football ground in Denmark.
Archaeologists have uncovered the site of St Clare’s Monastery in Roskilde using ground-penetrating radar (GDR) during investigations to build a car park.
The medieval monastery, which dates back to 1256, had been demolished and it was believed to have been lost to history but its remains have now been found in Roskilde around a metre below the surface of a sports field.
And what has really surprised experts is how well preserved is the site with scans showing rooms, cloisters and a church which is in the southern wing of the church.
Radar was used to locate the convent a metre below the surface(Image: National Museum/NIKU/Cover Images)
The eastern wing appears to be the best preserved, where vaulting pillars and room divisions can easily be identified and the remains are among the best ever found by radar of a monastic site in the country, stated the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research.
Scans had been made as part of a project to build an underground car park beneath the sports field at Byparken in Roskilde. It was known that the convent had been located in the area so the National Museum of Denmark (ROMU) wanted to use GDR which can be done quickly without excavation.
Archaeologists have been surprised at how well preserved are the remains(Image: Jesper Langkilde/ROMU/Cover Images)
“We knew that St Clare’s Convent had been located here, but not how much of the complex from 1256 had been preserved. The GPR survey has produced very clear results and a solid basis for planning further investigations,” says archaeologist Jesper Langkilde at ROMU.
The convent was one of five monasteries in Roskilde which was an important town in medieval times both religiously and by royalty which were centred there.
It was dissolved and demolished after the Reformation in the 16th century and bricks from the convent were used to build Selso Castle which left historians to believe that there was nothing left of the site.
Jesper Langkilde said the radar had produced very clear results(Image: Lene Steinbeck/Cover Images)
Little was known about the convent and this is now a chance to learn a lot more. “The results are simply impressive. GPR data do not always provide such clear images, and often the interpretation requires extensive analytical work,” says NIKU archaeologist Arne Abel Stamnes.
“This is the first time I have documented such a well-preserved monastery complex with GPR, and in my assessment these are among the clearest GPR results from a monastery complex in Scandinavia.”
The next step will be to look at building trenches and carry out more extensive archaeological investigations in the area depending on a decision by the Roskilde municipality.