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Viborg, Denmark

Coordinates:56°26′N9°24′E/ 56.433°N 9.400°E/56.433; 9.400
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused withVyborg.
For other uses, seeViborg.
Viborg
City
View of Viborg and its monumental cathedral (Viborg Domkirke), as seen from the Søndersø lake.
View of Viborg and its monumental cathedral (Viborg Domkirke), as seen from the Søndersø lake.
Official seal of Viborg
Seal
Coat of arms of Viborg
Coat of arms
Viborg is located in Denmark
Viborg
Viborg
Location inDenmark
Viborg is located in Denmark Central Denmark Region
Viborg
Viborg
Viborg (Denmark Central Denmark Region)
Coordinates:56°27′12″N09°24′07″E/ 56.45333°N 9.40194°E/56.45333; 9.40194
CountryDenmark
RegionCentral Denmark Region
MunicipalityViborg
Earliest evidence8th century
Government
•MayorUlrik Wilbek(Venstre)
Area
• Urban
26 km2(10 sq mi)
Elevation
51 m (167 ft)
Population
(1 January 2024)[1]
•Urban
42,305
• Urban density1,600/km2(4,200/sq mi)
• Gender[2]
20,701 males and 21,604 females
•Municipal
97,472
DemonymViborgenser
Time zoneUTC+1(CET)
• Summer (DST)UTC+2(CEST)
Postal code
8800
Area code(+45) 8
Websitewww.viborg.dk

Viborg(Danish pronunciation:[ˈviˌpɒˀ]) is a city in centralJutland,Denmark,the capital of bothViborg municipalityandRegion Midtjylland.Viborg is also the seat of the Western High Court, theHigh Courtfor theJutlandpeninsula. Viborg Municipality is the second-largestDanishmunicipality, covering 3.3% of the country's total land area.[3]

History

[edit]

Viborg is one of the oldest cities in Denmark, withVikingsettlements dating back to the late 8th century.[4]Its central location gave the city great strategic importance, in political and religious matters, during theMiddle Ages.Amotte-and-bailey-type castle was once located in the city. Viborg's name is a combination of two Old Norse words:vé,meaning a holy place, andborg,meaning a fort, but the original name of the town wasVvibiærgh,where-biærghmeans hill (modern Danish-bjerg(mountain).[5]

Sights

[edit]
Viborg Cathedral

Viborg is famous forViborg Cathedral.The construction of the cathedral started in 1130 and took about 50 years. The building has burned to the ground and been re-built several times. Only thecryptof the original cathedral is still preserved. The cathedral was and is the locus of cult ofSaint Kjeld of Viborgwho was dean of the cathedral chapter there and had a great shrine there in the Middle Ages. The newest parts of the church are from a restoration between 1864 and 1876.[6]The cathedral is famous for its many paintings by Danish painterJoakim Skovgaard,which depict stories from theBible.Next to the cathedral is theSkovgaard museum,founded in 1937.[7]

Before theProtestant ReformationViborg was the home of fivemonasteries,[8]about 12 parish churches, several chapels and of course the cathedral. The Black Friars' church dates from the 13th century.[6]Today only the cathedral and a few remains of the Franciscan and the Dominican monasteries are left.

Sports

[edit]
Viborg Stadium

Since the 1990s, Viborg has had a reputation as one of Denmark's leading cities forsports.It started withhandball,a popular sport in Denmark, when the women's handball team became one of best five clubs in Europe, and continued when both the men's handball team and the professionalfootballteam established themselves in their respective domestic leagues. From 1998 to 2008,Viborg FFwas a member of theDanish Superliga,reaching an all-time high by winning theDanish cupin2000.

Viborg hosts the annual Haervejsmarchen international two-day walking festival, which regularly attracts 8,000 participants, including many from outside Denmark. It includes marked routes of distances of up to 45 kilometres a day.[9]The walk is affiliated to theIML Walking Association.[10]

Education

[edit]
Viborg Katedralskole

Viborg is home to a number ofeducational institutions,includingViborg Katedralskole(cathedral school). Denmark's oldesteducational institutioncelebrated its 900th birthday in 2000. The school is believed to have been founded about 1060, at the same time as the city became the seat of abishop.Thechurchneeded to educate boys and young men to enter into the church's service, and to that purpose it created a school. Its current monumental home was built in 1926 to accommodate a larger number of students and later the school added adormitoryto house the many students from outer regions or islands not close to agymnasium.Although this role is now basically obsolete, the dorm continues to be a popular solution for many students wanting to get away from home or for a small number of students fromGreenland.Viborg Katedralskole is today one of four gymnasiums in Viborg.

Viborg is also home toThe Animation Workshop,an art school based in a former army barracks on the outskirts of town. The school, which achieved official recognition from the Danish government in 2003, offers students a Bachelor of Arts in character animation.

For international parents Viborg also has aninternational schoolwhere all teaching is in English based on the Cambridge International examinations.

Transportation

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Front façade ofViborg station.

Rail

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Viborg is served byViborg railway station.It is located on theLangå-Struer railway lineand offers directInterCityservices toCopenhagenandStruerandregional trainservices toAarhusandStruer.

Notable people

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Vitus Bering

Public service and thinking

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Arts

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Gudrun Houlberg, 1916
Morten Lund, 2017

Sport

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Finn Døssing, 2011
[edit]

In thescience fictionbookThe Corridors of TimebyPoul Anderson,a Danish-American writer who did considerable research on Danish history, a large part of the plot takes place in 16th-century Viborg. The protagonist - an Americantime travellerfrom the 20th century - arrives in the city in 1535 and gets involved with the adherents of the overthrown KingChristian IIand of the peasant rebel leaderSkipper Clement,who face savage persecution in the city.

Viborg is also the setting of "Number 13",a ghost story by the English writerM.R. James.

International relations

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See also:List of twin towns and sister cities in Denmark

Twin towns—sister cities

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Viborg istwinnedwith:

See also

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"Gymnasium" is the Danish equivalent of high school. It is not what English speakers call a gym, or place to work out. It offers a very rigorous education for college-bound students.

References

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  1. ^BY3: Population 1 January by urban areas, area and population densityThe Mobile Statbank fromStatistics Denmark
  2. ^BY1: Population 1 January by urban areas, age and sexThe Mobile Statbank fromStatistics Denmark
  3. ^Viborg Kommune statisticsArchivedApril 5, 2011, at theWayback Machine
  4. ^Viborg History
  5. ^"Den Store Danske website".9 May 2017.
  6. ^ab"Viborg".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 28 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 17.
  7. ^Museum website[permanent dead link]
  8. ^one forAugustinian canonsand one for Augustinian nuns, aFranciscanfriary, aDominican prioryand a preceptory of theKnights Hospitallers
  9. ^"Haervejsmarchen website".
  10. ^"IML Walking Association website".
  11. ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 25 May 2020
  12. ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 25 May 2020
  13. ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 26 May 2020
  14. ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 25 May 2020
  15. ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 03 May 2021
  16. ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 25 May 2020
  17. ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 26 May 2020
  18. ^"National Commission for Decentralised cooperation".Délégation pour l’Action Extérieure des Collectivités Territoriales (Ministère des Affaires étrangères)(in French). Archived fromthe originalon 2013-11-27.Retrieved2013-12-26.
[edit]
  • Media related toViborgat Wikimedia Commons
  • Viborgtravel guide from Wikivoyage

56°26′N9°24′E/ 56.433°N 9.400°E/56.433; 9.400

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