The city
of Odense ( ) is the third largest city in
Denmark
. The name Odense comes from the Norse god
Odin.
Odense
city has a population of 158,678 ( ) and is the main city of the
island of Funen
.
It is the
seat of Odense Municipality and
was the seat of Odense
County
until 1970, and Funen
County from 1970 until January 1, 2007 when the county became
part of Region
Syddanmark
.
History
- For the Catholic ecclesiastical history, see Roman Catholic bishopric of
Odense
Odense (from
Odins Vé,
meaning "Odin's shrine", referring to the god
Odin of Denmark's indigenous
Norse mythology), is one of the oldest
cities of Denmark and had its 1000th anniversary in 1988. To
celebrate this, a forest named "the Thousand Year Forest" (Danish:
Tusindårsskoven) was cultivated.
The shrine of Saint Canute ( ) in Saint Canute's
Cathedral
held great attraction for pilgrims throughout the
Middle Ages.
In the
16th century the town was the meeting-place of several parliaments,
and down to 1805 it was the seat of the provincial assembly of
Funen.
Odense's
most famous landmark was Odinstårnet
(The Odin Tower) constructed in 1935, as
the second-tallest tower in Europe, only surpassed by the Eiffel Tower
. Odinstårnet was blown up by a
Danish Nazi group in 1944 and has never been rebuilt. However, a
miniature model of it now stands in the residential area
Odinsparken in the area where the original tower
was.
Until the
beginning of the Danish industrial revolution, Odense was also the
2nd largest city in modern Denmark, but has in recent times been
overtaken by Aarhus
.
Famous residents of Odense
Business
Odense Palace
Sign post
Pavement decoration from the 2005 Hans
Christian Andersen year
Several large industries are located in or near Odense.
Denmark's
biggest shipyard, Odense Steel
Shipyard owned by the A.P.
Møller-Mærsk Group is situated in the neighbouring town Munkebo
. The
biggest sales auction of vegetables, fruits and flowers (
GASA) in Denmark is situated here. The
Albani Brewery brews the local
Odense
Pilsner amongst others.
The commercial national television company
TV 2 is based in Odense.
In the South-eastern part of Odense the
Rosengårdscentret shopping mall is
located. The mall is one of the oldest and biggest in Denmark with
98,000 m
2 of commercially used area.
The city's central location in Denmark makes it one of the
nationwide convention and congress centers.
Education
The main
campus of the University of Southern
Denmark
is located in Odense. A branch of
University College Lillebaelt
( ) can also be found in Odense.
Sports
Odense is the home of a number of football clubs, the most
important are
OB,
FC
FYN,
B1909,
B1913, FC Campus and
Dalum FC.
Tourist attractions
Saint Canute's
Cathedral ( ) was formerly connected with the great Benedictine monastery of the same name, and is
one of the largest and finest buildings of its kind in
Denmark. It is constructed of brick in a pure Gothic style.
Originally dating from 1081–1093, it was rebuilt in the 13th
century. Under the altar lies
Canute (Danish:
Knud),
the patron saint of Denmark, who had planned to conquer England
from
William of Normandy. He was
slain in an insurrection at Odense in 1086. Odense is also the see
of the
bishop of Funen. * The cathedral has
the
skeletons of both the Saint/King and
his brother on public display, it also boasts of one of Denmark's
finest altarpieces, a magnificent
triptych
by
Claus Berg. A large fragment of
Byzantine cloth is displayed next
to the two skeletons.
Kings
John ( ) and
Christian II are buried in the
city.
Our
Lady's Church, built in the 13th century and restored in 1851–1852
and again in 1864, contains a carved 16th century altarpiece by
Claus Berg of Lübeck
.
Odense Palace was erected by King
Frederick IV, who died there
in 1730.
There is
a theatre as well as a symphony orchestra, a zoo, and the Funen
Village
(Den Fynske Landsby) which is an open air
museum with old houses typical for Funen.
The City Hall has a small scar from a battle between Germans and
members of the Danish Resistance on 5 May 1945. The city's coat of
arms - located above the main entrance to City Hall - is damaged.
On close inspection, the kneecap of
Saint Canute is penetrated by a
bullet.
The 4 most visited attractions in 2007 were:
1.
Odense Zoo - 420,254 visitors
2. The Funen Village - 105,040 visitors
3. Danish Railway museum - 97,759 visitors
4. H.C. Andersens House - 80,622 visitors
Other attractions:
Transport
The city
lies close to Odense
Fjord
on the Odense River
(Odense Å). Its railway station
lies on the route between Copenhagen
and Jutland, the peninsular
mainland. A 7.5 metre (25 ft) deep canal, dug from 1796 to
1806 , gives access to the town from the fjord.
Accessibility to Odense was greatly
increased when the ferry service between the
two main Danish islands, Zealand
and Funen, was
replaced by the Great
Belt Bridge
- opened in 1997 for rail traffic, 1998 for road
traffic. When the bridge opened, it was 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.
Odense is
served by Odense
Airport
.
Population
The land area of Odense is 304 km
2, with a
population density of 611 per
km
2 (2005 figures from
Helsingin Seudun Aluesarjat).The
population of Odense city, per January 1 of a given year, according
to
Danmarks Statistik.
| Year |
Population |
Year |
Population |
1976
|| 138,348 || 1999 || 144,940
|
| 1981 |
136,646 |
2000 |
145,062 |
| 1986 |
137,286 |
2001 |
144,849 |
| 1989 |
138,339 |
2002 |
144,636 |
| 1990 |
138,986 |
2003 |
145,374 |
| 1992 |
140,886 |
2004 |
145,554 |
| 1994 |
143,029 |
2006 |
152,060 |
| 1996 |
144,518 |
2007 |
158,453 |
| 1997 |
145,354 |
2008 |
158,163 |
| 1998 |
145,296 |
2009 |
158,678 |
Twin cities
- For a full list of twin cities, see Odense Municipality
See also
References
- BEF44: Population 1st January, by urban areasdatabase
from Statistics Denmark
- Odense Municipality Statistisk 10 års
oversigt 2008 -Tabel 40 [1]
- Statistics Denmark tabel BEF4A 1976-2004
- Statistics Denmark tabel BEF44 2006-
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