Christina’s Family

Christina’s Family

At the entrance to Rebild National Park stands the bronze sculpture Christina’s Family, also known as Emigrants. In front of the sculpture, paving stones have been laid with the names of Mormons who emigrated from Denmark.

The sculpture was unveiled at the Rebild Festival in 2000 and depicts a Danish emigrant family on their way to a new life in America. It is based on the Beck family, who were among the approximately 18,000 Danes who emigrated in the 19th and early 20th centuries and became part of the Mormon community, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Although the sculpture portrays one specific family, it also tells the story of many other emigrants. The mother, father and children look towards the future and their new home, filled with hope and expectations. The grandmother, however, looks back with a more sorrowful expression. For her, the journey is connected with farewell, uncertainty and longing, partly because her husband remained in Denmark.

The child in the mother’s arms is a reminder of the many infants who did not survive the long and difficult journey across the sea.

For the Beck family and many other Danish families, the journey did not end when they reached the east coast of the United States. Four months after leaving Hamburg, they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in Utah, where new challenges awaited. At first, the family lived, among other places, in a small home built of sun-dried bricks with a turf roof. Later, they put down roots, and descendants of the Beck family still live in the town of Alpine, Utah.

The sculpture was created by American sculptor Dennis Smith, who was born in 1942 in Alpine, Utah. He is of Danish descent, with roots in Vendsyssel, and Christina’s Family portrays his own ancestors – including his great-grandmother Christina, who emigrated to America.

Dennis Smith is known for his depictions of families, mothers and children, and his works have made a significant contribution to sculpture in the United States.

Christina’s Family was donated to the Rebild Society by a group of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.