Ålborg - Jens Bangs Stenhus

On Østergade can be seen one of the town's most impressive buildings, known as Jens Bangs Stenhus, a beautiful mansion built in 1624 by the prosperous merchant Jens Bang, a lover of ostentation and grandeur. With its five stories it is the largest Renaissance mansion in Northern Europe. Built of brick, it has a roof with curved gables. The whole building is covered with sandstone ornamentation which shows a Dutch Renaissance influence. Although he was the richest man in Ålborg Jens Bang was never elected on to the town council. This rankled, and so he had a stone figure of himself built on the gable of the house with its tongue sticking out at the town hall.