Portal:Denmark/Selected article/2006 archive

Christiansborg Palace on Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen is the home of Denmark's three supreme powers: the executive power, the legislative power, and the judicial power. Christiansborg Palace is the only building in the world which is the home of all a nation's three supreme powers. Christiansborg Palace is owned by the Danish state, and is run by the Palaces and Properties Agency.

The palace today bears witness to three eras of Danish architecture, as the result of two serious fires. The first fire occurred in 1794 and the second in 1884. The main part of the current palace, built in 1928, is in the historicist Neo-baroque style. The chapel dates to the 1800s and is in a neoclassical style. The showgrounds date were built in the eighteenth century in a baroque style. (more...)

Saint Canute's Church - the Cathedral of Odense

Odense is the third largest city in Denmark with 145,554 inhabitants (Odense city January 1, 2004) and the capital of the island of Funen. It is the seat of both Odense municipality and Funen County.

The city lies close to Odense Fjord on the Odense River (Odense Å). It has a station on the railway route between Copenhagen and Jutland/Schleswig-Holstein, (Germany) via Korsør. A canal dug from 1796 to 1806, 7.5 metre (25 ft.) deep, gives access to the town from the fjord.

Accessibility to Odense was greatly increased when ferry service between the two main Danish islands, Zealand and Funen was replaced by the Great Belt Bridge (opened in 1997 for trains, 1998 for cars). The bridge is the second longest suspension bridge in the world. Its construction greatly cut transportation time between Odense and the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Copenhagen can now be reached by trains from Odense in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Recently selected: Christiansborg Palace

Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea. It also refers to Bornholm Regional Municipality, the municipality (Danish, kommune) which covers the entire island, and has county privileges.

The island is located to the east of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland (on the map of Denmark to the right, it is not shown in its true location; see the map at the bottom of the article). The main industries on the island include fishing, pottery using locally worked clay, clockmaking and dairy farming. Tourism is important during the summer.

The small islands Ertholmene are located 18 km to the north-east of Bornholm.

Strategically located in the Baltic Bornholm has been a bone of contention usually ruled by Denmark, but also by Lübeck and Sweden. The castle ruin Hammershus on the northwestern tip of the island gives testimony to its importance.

Recently selected: Christiansborg Palace – Odense

Approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages, early 10th century

Danish (dansk) belongs to the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages), a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken by around 5.5 million people mainly in Denmark including some 50,000 people in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, where it holds the status of minority language. Danish also holds official status and is a mandatory subject in school in the former Danish colonies of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, that now enjoy limited autonomy. In Iceland, which was a part of Denmark until 1944, Danish is still the second foreign language taught in schools (although a few learn Swedish or Norwegian instead).

The language started diverging from the common ancestor language Old Norse sometime during the 13th century and became more distinct from the other emerging Scandinavian national languages with the first bible translation in 1550, establishing an orthography differing from that of Swedish, though written Danish is usually far easier for Swedes to understand than the spoken language. Modern spoken Danish is characterized by a very strong tendency of reduction of many sounds making it particularly difficult for foreigners to understand and properly master, not just by reputation but by sheer phonetic reality.

Recently selected: Christiansborg Palace – Odense – Bornholm

The Eastern Bridge, seen from below

The Great Belt Fixed Link (Danish: Den faste Storebæltsforbindelse) is the fixed link between the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen across the Great Belt. It consists of a road suspension bridge and railway tunnel between Zealand and the islet Sprogø, as well as a box girder bridge between Sprogø and Funen. The "Great Belt Bridge" (Danish: Storebæltsbroen) commonly refers to the suspension bridge, although it may also be used to mean the girder bridge or the link in its entirety. The suspension bridge, known as the Eastern Bridge, has the world's second longest free span (1.6 km).

The link replaces the ferries which had been the primary means of crossing Great Belt for more than 100 years. After decades of speculation and debate, the decision to construct the link was made in 1986; while it was originally intended to complete the railway link three years before opening the road connection, the link was opened to rail traffic in 1997 and road traffic in 1998. At an estimated cost of DKK 21.4 billion (1988 prices), the link is the largest construction project in Danish history.

Recently selected: Odense – Bornholm – Danish language

The Kalmar Union flag.

The Kalmar Union (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish: Kalmarunionen) was a series of personal unions (1397–1521) that united the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden under a single monarch. The countries had given up their sovereignty, but not their independence, and diverging interests (especially Swedish dissatisfaction over the Danish and Holsteinish dominance) gave rise to a conflict that would hamper it from the 1430s until its final dissolution in 1523.

Recently selected: Great Belt Fixed Link – Danish language – Bornholm

The Dannebrog in flight.

The national flag of Denmark, the Dannebrog, is red with a white Scandinavian cross that extends to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side. The cross design of the Danish flag was subsequently adopted by the other Nordic countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. During the Danish-Norwegian personal union, the Dannebrog was also the flag of Norway and continued to be, with slight modifications, until Norway adopted its current flag in 1821.

The royal Danish yacht is named after the flag. The Dannebrog is the oldest state flag still in use, with the earliest undisputed source dating back to the 14th century.

Recently selected: Kalmar Union – Great Belt Fixed Link – Danish language

The Danevirke on the Carta marina.

Danevirke (Old Norse: Danavirki) also known as Dannevirke or Danewerk, means "Danes' works". It is the name for the Danish earthen defense structure, which stretches from the marshes of west Jutland to the town of Schleswig, situated at Slien at the Baltic Sea, near the Viking trade centre of Hedeby.

According to written sources, the work on Danevirke was initiated by the Danish King Godfred in 808 AD. Fearing an invasion by the Franks, Godfred commenced the work of an enormous structure for the defense of his realm, which separated the Jutland Peninsula from the northern extent of the Frankish empire.

Recently selected: Flag of Denmark – Kalmar Union – Great Belt Fixed Link

Nyhavn, Copenhagen.

Copenhagen (København) is the capital of Denmark, and the name of the municipality (Danish, kommune) in which it resides. With its population of 1,116,979 inhabitants it is the largest city in Denmark. It is also the name of a county in Denmark, Copenhagen County— but the city (municipality) is not a part of this county but rather is a semi-enclave of Copenhagen County. Frederiksberg is in turn an enclave of the city of Copenhagen, also not part of the County that surrounds both municipalities. Copenhagen is home to the national parliament, government, and monarchy, which are all situated in the heart of the city.

The contemporary Danish name for the city is a corruption of the original designation for the city, Kjøbmandehavn "merchants' harbour". The English word for the city is derived from its German name, Kopenhagen and pronounced [kəʊpn̩ˈhɛɪgn̩].

Recently selected: Danevirke – Flag of Denmark – Kalmar Union

Green: Danelaw

The Danelaw (from the Old English Dena lagu) is an 11th century name for an area of northern and eastern England under the administrative control of the Vikings (or Danes, or Norsemen) from the late 9th century. The term is also used to describe the set of legal terms and definitions established between Alfred the Great and the Viking Guthrum which were set down following Guthrum's defeat at the Battle of Edington in 878. Later, around 886, the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum was created which established the boundaries of their kingdoms and made some provision for relations between the English and the Danes.

The area occupied by the Danelaw was roughly the area to the north of a line drawn between London and Chester.

Five fortified towns became particularly important in the Danelaw: Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stamford and Derby, broadly covering the area now called the East Midlands. These strongholds became known as the "Five Boroughs". Borough derives from the Old English word burg, meaning a fortified and walled enclosure containing several households — anything from a large stockade to a fortified town. The meaning has since developed further.

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Frederick I of Denmark

The Count's Feud (Danish Grevens Fejde), also called the Count's War, was a civil war that raged in Denmark in 1534–1536 and brought about the Reformation in Denmark.

The Count's Feud takes its name from the Protestant Count Christopher of Oldenburg, who supported the Catholic King Christian II, deposed in 1523 and at that time being held in prison.

After Frederick I's death in 1533, the Jutland nobility proclaimed his son, then Duke Christian of Gottorp, as King under the name Christian III. Meanwhile, Count Christoffer organized an uprising against the new king, demanding that Christian II be set free. Supported by Lübeck and troops from Oldenburg and Mecklenburg, parts of the Zealand and Scania nobilities rose up, together with cities such as Copenhagen and Malmö. The violence itself began in 1534, when a privateer captain who had earlier been in Christian II's service, Klemen Andersen, called Skipper Clement, at Count Christoffer's request instigated the peasants of Vendsyssel and North Jutland to rise up against the nobles. The headquarters for the revolt came to be in Aalborg. A large number of plantations were burned down in northern and western Jutland.

The naval Battle of Copenhagen (Danish: Slaget på Reden) was fought on April 2, 1801 by a British fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, against a Dano-Norwegian fleet anchored just off Copenhagen. The main attack was led by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, who famously disobeyed Parker's order to withdraw and destroyed many of the Dano-Norwegian ships before Denmark-Norway agreed to a truce.

The battle was due to multiple failures of diplomacy in the latter half of 1800 and the beginning of 1801 during the Napoleonic wars. One of Great Britain's principal advantages against France was naval superiority and its ability to control sea traffic to France. The eccentric Russian Tsar Paul, after having been a British ally, arranged an Armed Neutrality of Scandinavia, Prussia, and Russia to enforce free trade. This was perceived by the United Kingdom to be very much in the French interest and a serious threat to her existence, particularly because it threatened the supply of timber and naval stores from Scandinavia.

Denmark's postal history begins with an ordinance of 24 December 1624 by King Christian IV, establishing a national postal service . This service consisted of nine main routes, and was to be operated by the mayor of Copenhagen and several guilds. Initially the mail was carried by foot, with riders being used after 1640.

The service was turned over to a Paul Klingenberg on 16 July 1653, who introduced a number of innovations, including mail coaches able to carry parcels, and service to Norway. He ran the service until 14 March 1685, when he handed it over to Count Christian Gyldenløve, a nine-year-old son of King Christian V. The Gyldenløve family continued in control until 1711; in 1694 new routes and rates were established. The state took over control in 1711.

The first steamship carrying mail was the SS Caledonia, which began carrying mail between Copenhagen and Kiel on 1 July 1819.

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The Isted Lion (Danish: Istedløven, German: Flensburger Löwe or Idstedt Löwe) is a Danish war monument originally intended as a monument of the Danish victory over Schleswig-Holstein in the Battle of Isted (July 25, 1850) — at its time the largest battle in Scandinavian history. Others perceived it more as a memorial for the Danish dead in the battle.

Originally erected in Flensburg, Schleswig, it was moved to Berlin by Prussian authorities and remained there until 1945. It was returned to Denmark as a gift from the United States Army and is currently located at Søren Kierkegaards Plads in Copenhagen. A number of politicians have suggested that it be returned to Germany but the issue remains controversial.

Following the Danish victory over Schleswig-Holstein in the First War of Schleswig (1848–51), Danish sculptor Herman Wilhelm Bissen was commissioned to create a monument to the ordinary Danish soldier, likely the first example of a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This monument Landsoldaten (the Foot Soldier) was unveiled in Fredericia in 1858.

Front page of Christiern Pedersen's Saxo version, Paris 1514

Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a work of Danish history, by 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian") at the monastery of Sorø. It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and an essential source for the nation's early history, one that helps define the national identity.

In sixteen books, written in Latin on the invitation of Archbishop Absalon, it describes Danish history and to some degree Scandinavian history in general, from prehistory to the late 12th century. It is told in a sparkling and entertaining language, that reads as well today as it did back then.

The sixteen books, in prose with an occasional excursus into poetry, can be categorized into two parts, book 1-9 being what is known as the Old Norse part and Book 10-16 being medieval history. Book 9 ends with Gorm the Old, the first factual documented King of Denmark.

Lego is a line of toys manufactured by Lego Group, a privately-held company based in Denmark. Its flagship product, also commonly referred to as Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures (also called minifigs or "Lego People"), and other pieces which can be assembled and connected in myriad combinations. Many interlocking accessories, including cars, planes, trains, buildings, castles, sculptures, ships, spaceships, and even working robots are available for purchase. Lego bricks are noted for their precision and quality of manufacture, resulting in an expensive yet uniformly high-quality product.

The Lego Group had humble beginnings in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a poor carpenter from Billund, Denmark. Christiansen started creating wooden toys in 1932, however in 1947, he and his son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen obtained samples of interlocking plastic bricks produced by the company Kiddicraft. These "Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building Bricks" were designed and patented in the UK by Hilary Harry Fisher Page, a child psychologist. A few years later, in 1949, Lego began producing similar bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks." The first Lego bricks, manufactured from cellulose acetate, were developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another; however, these plastic bricks could be "locked" together. They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. The blocks snapped together, but not so tightly that they could not be pulled apart.

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The National Coat of Arms of Denmark consists of three crowned blue lions surrounded by nine red hearts, all in a golden shield. The oldest known depiction of the insignia dates from a seal used by King Canute VI c. 1194. The oldest documentation for the colours dates from c. 1270.

Historically, the lions faced the viewer and the number of hearts was not regulated and could be much higher. Historians believe that the hearts originally were søblade (literally: sea-leaves) but that this meaning was lost early due to worn and crudely made signets used during the Middle Ages.

The current version was adopted in 1819 during the reign of King Frederick VI. A rare version exists from the reign of king Eric of Pomerania in which the three lions jointly hold the Danish banner, in a similar fashion as in the coat of arms of South Jutland County.

The Old Town in Aarhus, Denmark is an open-air village museum consisting of 75 historical buildings collected from 20 townships in all parts of the country. In 1914 the museum opened for the first time as the worlds’ first open-air museum of its kind and till this day it remains one of just a few top rated Danish museums outside Copenhagen serving some 3.5 million visitors pr. year.

The museum buildings are organized into a small village of chiefly half-timbered structures originally erected between 1550 and the late 1800s in various parts of the country and later moved to Aarhus during the 1900s. In all there are some 27 rooms, chambers or kitchens, 34 workshops, 10 groceries or shops, 5 historical gardens, a post office, a customs office, a school and a theatre.

The village itself is the main attraction but most buildings are open for visitors; rooms are either decorated in the original historical style or organized into larger exhibits of which there are 5 regular with varying themes. There are several groceries, diners and workshops spread throughout the village with museum staff working in the roles of typical village figures i.e. merchant, blacksmith etc. adding to the illusion of a "living" village.

Aggersborg (57.00°N 9.16°E / 57.00; 9.16) is the largest of Denmark's former Viking ring castles, and one of the largest archeological sites in Denmark. It is located near Aggersund on the north side of the Limfjord. It comprised a circular rampart surrounded by a ditch. Four main roads arranged in a cross connected the castle centre with the outer ring. The roads were tunnelled under the outer rampart, leaving the circular structure intact.

The ring castle had an inner diameter of 240 metres. The ditch was located eight meters outside of the rampart, and was approximately 1.3 metres deep. The wall is believed to have been four metres tall. The rampart was constructed of soil and turf, reinforced and clad with oak wood. The rampart formed the basis for a wooden parapet. Smaller streets were located within the four main sections of the fortress.

The modern Aggersborg is a reconstruction created in the 1990s. It is lower than the original fortress.

Kronborg Castle (56.2°N 12.37°E / 56.2; 12.37) is situated near the town of Helsingør (or Elsinore) on the north eastern tip of Zealand, guarding the narrowest point of the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden. At this location, the strait is a mere four kilometres wide, hence the strategic importance of maintaining a fortress at this location. The castle has for centuries been one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list on November 30, 2000.

The castle's story dates back to a fortress, Krogen, built in the 1420s by the Danish king, Eric of Pomerania. The king demanded payment of Sound Dues by all ships entering or exiting the Baltic and to enforce this demand, he erected a powerful fortress the entrance to the Baltic.

Kronborg acquired its current name in 1585 when it was rebuilt by King Frederick II into a magnificent renaissance castle unique in its appearance and size throughout Europe.

In 1629, a moment's carelessness by two workmen caused much of the Castle to go up in flames. Only the Chapel was spared by the strength of its arches. King Christian IV put great efforts into restoring the castle and by 1639 the exterior was magnificent once again but the interior never fully regained its former glory.

The Swedish conquest of Kronborg in 1658, by Wrangel, demonstrated that the Castle was far from impregnable. Afterwards, the defences were strengthened significantly. From 1688-90, an advanced line of defence was added called the Crownwork. Shortly afterwards, a new series of ramparts were built around it. After their completion, Kronborg was considered the strongest fortress in Europe.

F.C. Copenhagen (Danish: F.C. København, or FCK in short) is a Danish football team located in Copenhagen. It is a part of the Parken Sport & Entertainment company. They play in the Danish Superliga and is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football. They have won five Danish Superliga championships, three Danish Cup trophies, and the Scandinavian tournament Royal League two times. They qualified for the 2006-07 edition of the European UEFA Champions League, for the first time in club history.

F.C. Copenhagen was founded in 1992, as a merger between 15-time Danish football champions Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB) and seven-time Danish football champions Boldklubben 1903, both clubs from Copenhagen. The club plays its matches at the Parken Stadium, which also serves as the venue for Denmark national football team matches. Since its founding, F.C. Copenhagen have had a fierce rivalry with fellow Copenhagen club Brøndby IF, and the so-called "New Firm" games between the two sides attract the biggest crowds in Danish football.

The two Copenhagen clubs Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB) and Boldklubben 1903 merged to found F.C. Copenhagen on 1 July 1992. FCK used B1903's club license to start its history in the top-flight Danish Superliga championship, while KB became the official reserve team of the club. With the rebuilding of the Parken Stadium, Denmark's national team stadium, the new club had a ready-made, top-modern stadium to play at. The first ambition of the club was to continually qualify for one of the European competitions each season. The means to attain these goals were a solid economy built upon a big fan base, and an "attractive and positive style of football".