Viborg (), a city in central

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, is the capital of both Viborg municipality and

Region Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

. Viborg is also the seat of the Western High Court, the High Court for the

peninsula. Viborg Municipality is the second-largest Danish municipality, covering 3.3% of the country's total land area.

History

Viborg is one of the oldest cities in Denmark, with

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

settlements dating back to the late 8th century. Its central location gave the city great strategic importance, in political and religious matters, during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. A motte-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, and ''borg'', meaning a fort, but the original name of the town was ''Vvibiærgh'', where ''-biærgh'' means hill (modern Danish ''-bjerg'' (mountain).

Sights

Viborg is famous for

Viborg Cathedral , image = Viborg Cathedral June 2012.jpg , imagesize = 250px , caption = , pushpin map = Denmark , pushpin label position = , pushpin map alt = , pushpin mapsize = , ...

. 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 the crypt of the original cathedral is still preserved. The cathedral was and is the locus of cult of Saint Kjeld of Viborg who 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. The cathedral is famous for its many paintings by Danish painter

Joakim Skovgaard Joakim Frederik Skovgaard (18 November 1856 – 9 March 1933) was a Danish painter. He is remembered above all for the frescos which decorate Viborg Cathedral. Biography Born in Copenhagen, from an early age he was trained in drawing and paintin ...

, which depict stories from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. Next to the cathedral is the Skovgaard museum, founded in 1937. Before the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

Viborg was the home of five

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, about 12 parish churches, several chapels and of course the cathedral. The Black Friars' church dates from the 13th century. Today only the cathedral and a few remains of the Franciscan and the Dominican monasteries are left.

Sports

Since the 1990s, Viborg has had a reputation as one of Denmark's leading cities for sports. It started with handball, 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 professional football team established themselves in their respective domestic leagues. From 1998 to 2008, Viborg FF was a member of the Danish Superliga, reaching an all-time high by winning the

Danish cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. 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. The walk is affiliated to the IML Walking Association.

Education

Viborg is home to a number of educational institutions, including Viborg Katedralskole (

cathedral school Cathedral schools began in the Early Middle Ages as centers of advanced education, some of them ultimately evolving into medieval universities. Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools. Some of these ...

). Denmark's oldest educational institution celebrated 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 a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

. The church needed 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 a dormitory to house the many students from outer regions or islands not close to a gymnasium. 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 from

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

. Viborg Katedralskole is today one of four gymnasiums in Viborg. Viborg is also home to The 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 a
international school
where all teaching is in English based on the Cambridge International examinations.

Transportation

Rail

Viborg is served by Viborg railway station. It is located on the Langå-Struer railway line and offers direct InterCity services to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and Struer and

regional train Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster servi ...

services to Aarhus and Struer.

Notable people

Public service and thinking

* 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 Niels Kaas (1535 – 29 June 1594) was a Danish politician who served as Chancellor of Denmark from 1573 until his death. He was influential in the negotiation of the Peace of Stettin and in the upbringing of Christian IV. Kaas also played an i ...

(1535 in Stårupgård –1594) politician, Chancellor of Denmark 1573-1594 *

Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in ...

(1617–1675) poet, historian and Supreme Court justice * Carl Gottlob Rafn (1769–1808) enlightenment scientist and civil servant * Sophie Zahrtmann (1841 in Vammen1925)

deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is, in modern times, a usually non-ordained ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a limited l ...

and nurse *

Hans Christian Cornelius Mortensen Hans Christian Cornelius Mortensen (27 August 1856 – 7 June 1921) was a Danish teacher and ornithologist. He was the first to employ bird ringing for scientific purposes. Mortensen was born in Jonstrup on the island of Zealand, Denmark. A ...

(1856–1921), ornithologist, taught in Viborg * Bertel Dahlgaard (1887–1972) politician and statistician * Kåre Pugerup (born 1964) diplomat and Chief of Staff at the UN agency IFAD in Rome * Torsten Nielsen (born 1967 in Sparkær) politician, Mayor of Viborg Municipality since 2014 * Anders Primdahl Vistisen (born 1987 in Vridsted)

DPP DPP may stand for: Business *Digital Production Partnership, of UK public service broadcasters * Direct Participation Program, a financial security * Discounted payback period Photography * Digital Photo Professional, Canon software Law en ...

politician and MEP

Arts

* 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 bosses * Jeppe Aakjær (1866–1930) poet and novelist, a member of the Jutland Movement *

Anders Randolf Anders Randolf (December 18, 1870 – July 2, 1930) was a Danish American actor in American films from 1913 to 1930. Biography Anders was born in Viborg, Denmark, where he became a professional soldier in the Danish army and a world-class swo ...

(1870–1930) Danish American actor in American films *

Benjamin Christensen Benjamin Christensen (28 September 1879 – 2 April 1959) was a Danish film director, screenwriter and an actor, both in film and on the stage. As a director, he is best known for the 1922 film ''Häxan'' (aka ''Witchcraft Through the Ages' ...

(1879–1959), film director, screenwriter and actor * Tyge Hvass (1885 in Randrup1963) a Danish functionalist architect * A. W. Sandberg (1887–1938) a Danish film director and screenwriter * Jens Klok (1889–1974) a Danish architect with the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). O ...

* Gudrun Houlberg (1889–1940) actress * 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 of Smukfest * Frank Hvam (born 1970) stand-up-comedian * Morten Lund (born 1972) jazz drummer *

Lise Rønne Lise Rønne (born 1 November 1978 in Viborg) is a Danish journalist and television presenter, best known in Denmark for presenting four seasons of '' X Factor'' as well as two seasons of ''Dansk Melodi Grand Prix''. She is best known outside D ...

(born 1978) a Danish journalist and TV presenter IMDb Database
retrieved 26 May 2020 *

Rasmussen The surname Rasmussen () is a Danish and Norwegian surname, meaning '' Rasmus' son''. It is the ninth-most-common surname in Denmark, shared by about 1.9% of the population.

(born 1985) stage name of ''Jonas Flodager Rasmussen'', Danish singer and actor

Sport

* Charles Buchwald (1880 in Bjerringbro1951) amateur footballer, won silver medals at the 1908 and 1912 Summer Olympics * Finn Døssing Jensen (born 1941) former footballer, 349 appearances for Viborg 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 for

Steffen Højer Steffen Højer (born 22 May 1973) is a Danish professional football coach and former player, who is the head coach of the Danish national under-21 football team. Højer spent most of his career with Viborg FF, although he also played for a numb ...

(born 1973) former football player, 380 club caps, many for Viborg 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 for

Brentford F.C. Brentford Football Club is a professional football club in Brentford, West London, England, which competes in the Premier League, the highest tier of English football, having gained promotion via the playoffs at the end of the 2020–21 Champi ...

In popular culture

In the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

book '' The Corridors of Time'' by

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and ...

, 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 American

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

ler from the 20th century - arrives in the city in 1535 and gets involved with the adherents of the overthrown King

Christian II Christian II (1 July 1481 – 25 January 1559) was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union who reigned as King of Denmark and Norway, from 1513 until 1523, and Sweden from 1520 until 1521. From 1513 to 1523, he was concurrently Duke ...

and of the peasant rebel leader

Skipper Clement Klemen Andersen "Skipper Clement" ( – 9 September 1536) was a Danish merchant, captain, privateer and leader of the peasant rebellion that was part of the civil war known as the Count's Feud (''Grevens Fejde''). Background Clement was born to ...

, who face savage persecution in the city. Viborg is also the setting of " Number 13", a ghost story by the English writer M.R. James.

International relations

Twin towns—sister cities

Viborg is twinned with: * Bayeux, France

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities and towns in the Central Denmark Region Municipal seats of Denmark Viborg Municipality