Viborg, Denmark
Viborg | |
---|---|
City | |
Location inDenmark | |
Coordinates:56°27′12″N09°24′07″E/ 56.45333°N 9.40194°E | |
Country | Denmark |
Region | Central Denmark Region |
Municipality | Viborg |
Earliest evidence | 8th century |
Government | |
•Mayor | Ulrik Wilbek(Venstre) |
Area | |
• Urban | 26 km2(10 sq mi) |
Elevation | 51 m (167 ft) |
Population (1 January 2024)[1] | |
•Urban | 42,305 |
• Urban density | 1,600/km2(4,200/sq mi) |
• Gender[2] | 20,701 males and 21,604 females |
•Municipal | 97,472 |
Demonym | Viborgenser |
Time zone | UTC+1(CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2(CEST) |
Postal code | 8800 |
Area code | (+45) 8 |
Website | www |
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]
Economy
[edit]Viborg municipality is where theAppleFoulum Data Centeris located which opened in September 2020.[6]
Sights
[edit]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.[7]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.[8]
Before theProtestant ReformationViborg was the home of fivemonasteries,[9]about 12 parish churches, several chapels and of course the cathedral. The Black Friars' church dates from the 13th century.[7]Today only the cathedral and a few remains of the Franciscan and the Dominican monasteries are left.
Sports
[edit]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.[10]The walk is affiliated to theIML Walking Association.[11]
Education
[edit]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
[edit]Rail
[edit]Viborg is served byViborg railway station.It is located on theLangå-Struer railway lineand offers directInterCityservices toCopenhagenandStruerandregional trainservices toAarhusandStruer.
Notable people
[edit]Public service and thinking
[edit]- Saint Kjeld(died 1150), Archdeacon, canonized 1188
- Biskop Gunner, (Danish Wiki)(1152–1251), Bishop, co-writer of the Law of Jutland
- Knud Mikkelsen, (Danish wiki)(1421-1478/1488), Bishop, contributor to the Law of Jutland
- Niels Kaas(1535 in Stårupgård –1594) politician,Chancellorof Denmark 1573-1594
- Vitus Bering(1617–1675) poet, historian and Supreme Court justice
- Carl Gottlob Rafn(1769–1808) enlightenment scientist and civil servant
- Sophie Zahrtmann(1841 in Vammen – 1925)deaconessand nurse
- Hans Christian Cornelius Mortensen(1856–1921), ornithologist, taught in Viborg
- Bertel Dahlgaard(1887–1972) politician and statistician
- Kåre Pugerup(born 1964) diplomat and Chief of Staff at theUNagencyIFADin Rome
- Torsten Nielsen(born 1967 in Sparkær) politician, Mayor ofViborg Municipalitysince 2014
- Anders Primdahl Vistisen(born 1987 inVridsted)DPPpolitician andMEP
Arts
[edit]- Christen Aagaard(1616—1664) poet, academic and theologian
- Carl Deichman(1705–1780) Norwegian mine operator, book collector and philanthropist
- Mads Alstrup(1808–1876) first Danish portrait photographer with his own studio
- Kristian Mantzius(1819–1879) actor, popular with his audience but not his Boss es
- Jeppe Aakjær(1866–1930) poet and novelist, a member of theJutland Movement
- Anders Randolf(1870–1930) Danish American actor in American films[12]
- Benjamin Christensen(1879–1959), film director, screenwriter and actor[13]
- Tyge Hvass(1885 in Randrup – 1963) a Danishfunctionalistarchitect
- A. W. Sandberg(1887–1938) a Danish film director and screenwriter[14]
- Jens Klok(1889–1974) a Danish architect with theRoyal Danish Navy
- Gudrun Houlberg(1889–1940) actress[15]
- Olaf Wieghorst(1899–1988), painter of the American West
- Peter Seeberg(1925–1999), writer, worked in Viborg as a museum custodian
- Johann Otto von Spreckelsen(1929–1987), architect
- Peer Hultberg(1935–2007), a Danish author and psychoanalyst, lived in Viborg as a child
- Freddy Milton(born 1948 in Overlund) a Danish comics artist and writer
- Poul Martin Bonde (born 1958) songwriter and spokesperson ofSmukfest[16]
- Frank Hvam(born 1970) stand-up-comedian[17]
- Morten Lund(born 1972) jazz drummer
- Lise Rønne(born 1978) a Danish journalist and TV presenter[18]
- Rasmussen(born 1985) stage name ofJonas Flodager Rasmussen,Danish singer and actor
Sport
[edit]- Charles Buchwald(1880 in Bjerringbro – 1951) amateur footballer, won silver medals at the 1908 and1912 Summer Olympics
- Finn DøssingJensen (born 1941) former footballer, 349 appearances forViborg FF
- Ulrik Wilbek(born 1958) successful handball coach and Mayor of Viborg since 2018
- Nicolai Vollquartz(born 1965) football referee
- Nikolaj Jacobsen(born 1971) a handball coach and former player with 148 caps forDenmark
- Steffen Højer(born 1973) former football player, 380 club caps, many forViborg FF
- Brian Buur(born 1977) (as Brian Sorensen) a former Danish darts player
- Henrik Dalsgaard(born 1989 in Roum) footballer, over 300 club caps, plays forBrentford F.C.
In popular culture
[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
[edit]Twin towns—sister cities
[edit]Viborg istwinnedwith:
See also
[edit]- St. John's Priory, Viborg
- Chronicle of the Expulsion of the Grayfriars#Chapter 2 Concerning the Friary at Viborg
"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
[edit]- ^BY3: Population 1 January by urban areas, area and population densityThe Mobile Statbank fromStatistics Denmark
- ^BY1: Population 1 January by urban areas, age and sexThe Mobile Statbank fromStatistics Denmark
- ^Viborg Kommune statisticsArchivedApril 5, 2011, at theWayback Machine
- ^Viborg History
- ^"Den Store Danske website".9 May 2017.
- ^"Apple scraps $1 billion Irish data centre over planning delays".Reuters. 10 May 2018.Retrieved7 September2024.
- ^abEncyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 28 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 17. .
- ^Museum website[permanent dead link]
- ^one forAugustinian canonsand one for Augustinian nuns, aFranciscanfriary, aDominican prioryand a preceptory of theKnights Hospitallers
- ^"Haervejsmarchen website".
- ^"IML Walking Association website".
- ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 25 May 2020
- ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 25 May 2020
- ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 26 May 2020
- ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 25 May 2020
- ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 03 May 2021
- ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 25 May 2020
- ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 26 May 2020
- ^"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.