Sneglehuset (The Snail House)

Sneglehuset is a house decorated with shells. But we’re not talking about a bowl of seashells in the bathroom or a few shells hung on the walls. Everything you see in and around this cute little house in a Danish fishing town is covered in shells.

For the origin of Thyborøn’s shell house, we go back to 1949. Alfred Pedersen was a fisherman but also had a great preference for making art, and he came up with the idea to decorate a house in an extraordinary way. The house was for his wife Paula, and it had to be so special that people would come and watch from the farthest corners. He started adding shells to the house in 1949 and finished in 1974.

The shells are arranged in intricate designs that extend into the yard. There are spirals, flowers, hearts, and arches. On one exterior wall, you can find a seashell mosaic of a mermaid, and a row of large conch shells lines the top of the fence surrounding the property. In addition to the shells on and inside the house, you can find a large collection of bottle ships at Sneglehuset.

In 2019, Sneglehuset was bought by Ken Koustrup and Hanne Mette Kirkedal, who had lived nearby for many years and loved walking past the property.