Elvira Madigan and Sixten Sparre
Revisit the love story of Elvira Madigan and Sixten Sparre on Tåsinge.
In 1889, the beautiful tightrope artist Elvira Madigan and the Swedish aristocrat Sixten Sparre visited Svendborg. He was a lieutenant of the Swedish dragoons and she was part of a traveling circus.
The story of their romantic meeting, relationship, escape, and dramatic demise is the stuff of legends. The infatuated couple chose to end their lives together in the forest of Nørreskoven on Tåsinge. Their tragic love story continues to serve as inspiration for retellings and stage plays.
Located just opposite Bregninge Kirke, Tåsinge Museum has an exhibition about Elvira Madigan and Sixten Sparre and the tragic story that played out in Nørreskoven where the two lovers chose to die together. Learn all about the thoughts and actions of the two lovers leading up to the fatal moment in the forest.
Elvira Madigan and Sixten Sparre is buried together under an old oak at Landet Cemetery. It is customary for sentimental young girls to place a bouquet of summer flowers on the grave when visiting the cemetery, and for newly married brides to give Elvira the wedding bouquet she didn’t get when she was still alive.