Aabenraa (; , ;

South Jutlandic South Jutlandic or South Jutish ( South Jutish: ; ; ) is a dialect of the Danish language. South Jutlandic is spoken in Southern Jutland (''Sønderjylland''; also called Schleswig or Slesvig) on both sides of the border between Denmark and Germ ...

: ''Affenråe'', also known as Åbenrå) is a town in

Southern Denmark The Region of Southern Denmark (, ; , ; ) is an administrative region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter") and set up five larger regions. ...

, at the head of the Aabenraa Fjord, an arm of the

Little Belt The Little Belt (, ) is a strait between the island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish straits, Danish Straits that drain and connect the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat strait, which drains west to the Nor ...

, north of the

Denmark–Germany border The Denmark–Germany border (; ) is a land and maritime border between the modern countries of Denmark and Germany. It includes one of Denmark's two land borders (the other being the border with Canada on Hans Island). The land border with Germ ...

and north of German town of

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...

. It was the seat of Sønderjyllands Amt (South Jutland County) until 1 January 2007, when the

Region of Southern Denmark The Region of Southern Denmark (, ; , ; ) is an administrative region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter") and set up five larger regions ...

was created as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform. With a population of 16,500 (1 January 2025),BY3: Population 1. January by urban areas, area and population density
The Mobile Statbank from

Statistics Denmark Statistics Denmark () is a Danish governmental organization under the Ministry of the Interior and Housing, reporting to the Minister of Economic and Internal Affairs. The organization is responsible for creating statistics on the Danish society ...

Aabenraa is the largest town and the seat of the Aabenraa Municipality. The name Aabenraa originally meant "open beach" ().

History

Aabenraa was first mentioned in historic accounts in the 12th century, when it was attacked by the

Wends Wends is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying ...

. Aabenraa started growing in the early

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

around Opnør Hus, the bishop's castle, and received status as a merchant town in 1240, and in 1335 it received a charter. During the Middle Ages the town was known for its fishing industry and for its production of

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

. Between 1560 and 1721 the town was under the rule of the

Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp Holstein-Gottorp () is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, also known as Ducal Holstein, that were ruled by the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, a side ...

The town's glory days were during the period of the 1750s to c. 1864, when ship traffic was at a high growth rate with trade to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It possessed a good harbour, which afforded shelter for a large carrying trade, Aabenraa having the Danish monarchy's third-largest trade fleet, after

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and Flensborg. The city had a number of

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

yards, which were known for their fine ships. The best known being the

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...

''Cimber'', which in 1857 sailed from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 106 days. Fishing and various small factories also provided occupations for the population. From 1864 as a result of the

Second War of Schleswig The Second Schleswig War (; or German Danish War), also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War, was the second military conflict over the Schleswig–Holstein question of the nineteenth century. The war began on 1 Februar ...

it was part of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, and as such part of the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation () was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state (a ''de facto'' feder ...

, and from 1871 onwards, part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. In the 1920

Schleswig Plebiscite The Schleswig plebiscites were two plebiscites, organized according to section XII, articles 109 to 114 of the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, in order to determine the future border between Denmark and Germany through the former Duchy of S ...

that brought

Northern Schleswig Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

to Denmark, 55.1% of Aabenraa's inhabitants voted for remaining part of Germany and 44.9% voted for the cession to Denmark. However, since a plurality of votes in the surrounding Aabenraa municipality voted to join Denmark, the town was thus ceded to the Danish crown. Aabenraa 1923

After the 1948 Danish

spelling reform A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms. Recent high-profile examples a ...

, which abolished the digraph Aa in favor of Å, there was fervent resistance in Aabenraa. The town feared, among other things, to lose its status as first in alphabetical listings (and reputedly the first town alphabetically anywhere in the world), because the letter ''Å'' is the last letter in the

Dano-Norwegian alphabet The Danish and Norwegian alphabet is the set of symbols, forming a variant of the Latin alphabet, used for writing the Danish and Norwegian languages. It has consisted of the following 29 letters since 1917 (Norwegian) and 1948 (Danish): The ...

. A later revision of the spelling rules allowed for retaining the Aa spelling as an option. While the municipality of Aabenraa and most local citizens use the Aa spelling, Åbenrå remains the option recommended by the Danish Language Board. On June 14, 2019, a low-end IF2/F2/T4

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

touched down in Aabenraa. Two vehicles were flipped on the local hospital's parking lot. Another primarily rated High-end IF1/F1/T3 tornado struck åbenrå on July 13, 2023, causing moderate damage. Some trees were downed & some buildings were damaged, including one commercial building that had its roof severely blown away. 6 cars were damaged with one being moved 50 Centimetres.

Today

The town has a harbour, with a significant shipping trade. There is various industry in the city, including Marcussen's Organ Building (''Marcussens Orgelbyggeri'') and Callesens Machineworks (''Callesens Maskinfabrik''). The city is the administrative center for the county.

Danmarks Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

has an office in the city. A

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

minority live in Aabenraa and they publish '' Der Nordschleswiger'' newspaper in German. Some noteworthy buildings in the town are (''Sankt Nicolai Kirke'') from the time of King

Valdemar Waldemar, Valdemar, Valdimar, or Woldemar is an Old High German given name. It consists of the elements ''wald-'' "power", "brightness" and ''-mar'' "fame". The name is considered the equivalent of the Latvian name Valdemārs, the Estonian name ...

with construction beginning ca. 1250, and restored from 1949 to 1956. (''Brundlund Slot''), erected by Queen

Margaret I Margaret I may refer to: * Margaret I, Countess of Flanders (died 1194) * Margaret I of Scotland (1283–1290), usually known as the Maid of Norway * Margaret I, Countess of Holland (1311–1356), Countess of Hainaut and Countess of Holland * Ma ...

1411, and rebuilt in 1807, today is home to the Brundlund Slot Art Museum (''Kunstmuseet Brundlund Slot''). The town is a bathing resort, as is Elisenlund close by. The city has several preserved neighborhoods from the 1800s including ''Slotsgade'', ''Store Pottergade'', ''Lille Pottergade'', ''Nygade'', ''Nybro'', ''Skibbrogade'' and ''Gildegade''.

Education

A branch of

University College South University College South Denmark Internationalt > English">University College Syd > Forside > Internationalt > English/ref> () is a university college in the southern part of Denmark. It offers bachelor courses in various disciplines and has appr ...

() can be found in Aabenraa.

Transport and Infrastructure

The Port of Aabenraa is the only remaining active commercial port in

Southern Jutland Southern Jutland (; ) is the region south of the Kongeå in Jutland, Denmark and north of the Eider (river) in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The region north of the Kongeå is called . Both territories had their own ting assemblies in the Mi ...

. With a depth of 18 meters it is the deepest port in the eastern part of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. Aabenraa is located close to

European route E45 European route E45 connects Norway and Italy, through Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Austria. With a length of about , it is the longest north–south European route (some east–west routes are longer). The route passes through Alta ...

motorway. The nearest railway station is Rødekro railway station which is located on the Fredericia–Padborg railway line 8 km northwest of Aabenraa.

Notable people

The arts

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (2 January 1783 – 22 July 1853) was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig (now in Aabenraa Municipality, in the southern part of Jutland in Denmark). He went on to lay the foun ...

(1783 in Blåkrog – 1853) Danish painter, laid the foundations for the Golden Age of Danish Painting *

Anna Christiane Ludvigsen Anna Christiane Lauterup Ludvigsen (1794–1884) was a Danish poet. Frequently reminded of how she had been blessed in her cradle by the Swiss priest and poet Johann Kaspar Lavater, she felt it was her vocation to write poetry. As she spent most o ...

(1794 – 1864), poet who gained popularity in Southern Jutland * Magda von Dolcke (1838 in Åbenrå – 1926), Danish stage actress, known for her relationship with King

Oscar II of Sweden Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; 21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907) was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905. Oscar was the son of Oscar I of Sweden, King Oscar I and Josephine of Leuchtenberg, Queen J ...

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the early ...

(1867 in Burkal – 1956), German-Danish painter and printmaker, one of the first

Expressionists Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

* Karl Clausen (1904 in Åbenrå – 1972), Danish pianist, conductor, composer, and musicologist * Lisbeth Balslev (born 1945 in Åbenrå), operatic soprano, especially in Wagnerian operasIMDb Database
retrieved 28 April 2020

Public thinking and public service

* Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu (1852 in Åbenrå – 1932), Danish naval officer and businessman, became a Siamese admiral and minister *

Ernst Reuter Ernst Rudolf Johannes Reuter (29 July 1889 – 29 September 1953) was the mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953, during the time of the Cold War. He played a significant role in unifying the divided sectors of Berlin and publicly and politically ...

(1889 in Apenrade – 1953), the German Mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953 * Frits Clausen (1893 in Åbenrå – 1947), leader of the

National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark The National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark (; DNSAP) was the largest Nazi Party in Denmark before and during the Second World War. History The party was founded on 16 November 1930, after the success of the Nazis in the German Reichstag ...

(DNSAP) * Camma Larsen-Ledet (1915 – 1991 in Åbenrå), politician, Mayor of Aabenraa 1970–1986 *

Bertel Haarder Bertel Geismar Haarder (born 7 September 1944) is a Danish writer, teacher and politician, who was a member of the Folketing for the Venstre political party. He has served as minister several times, including Minister of Education from 1982 to 1 ...

(born 1944 in Rønshoved), politician, longest serving Danish minister since 2001 *

Jens-Peter Bonde Jens-Peter Rossen Bonde (27 March 1948 – 4 April 2021) was a Danish politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the June Movement. He resigned as an MEP in May 2008. Bonde was elected to the European Parliament in the ...

(1948 – 2021 in Åbenrå), former politician and MEP * Poul Mathias Thomsen (born 1955 in Aabenraa), Danish economist working for the

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of la ...

* Eva Kjer Hansen (born 1964 in Hellevad), Danish politician - Venstre

Science and business

Christian Friedrich Ecklon Christian Friedrich Ecklon (17 December 1795 – 1 December 1868) was a Denmark, Danish botany, botanical collector and apothecary. Ecklon is especially known for being an avid collector and researcher of plants in South Africa. Biography Ecklon ...

(1795 – 1868), botanical collector and apothecary, came from Åbenrå * Michael Jebsen (1835 in Apenrade – 1899) ship's captain and ship owner, progenitor of the

Jebsen Group Jebsen Group () is a marketing, investment, and distribution organisation founded in 1895. It is headquartered in Hong Kong with offices in mainland China and Macau. It consists of four business lines: Beverage, Consumer, Motors, and Jebsen Capita ...

in HongKong *

Niels Jacobsen Niels Jacobsen (14 September 1865 - 31 January 1935) was a Danish architect and politician who worked primarily in Odense. Biography Born in Aabenraa, Jacobsen was the son of shipbuilder Niels Jacobsen and Marie Kjaer. Jacobsen initially trained ...

(1865 in Åbenrå - 1935), architect and politician, Chairman of

The Lego Group Lego A/S, also known as the Lego Group, is a Danish construction toy production company based in Billund. It manufactures Lego-branded toys, consisting mostly of interlocking ABS plastic and rubber bricks. The Lego Group has also built severa ...

* Jes Peter Asmussen (1928 in Åbenrå – 2002), Danish

Iranologist Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field ...

* Birte Melsen (born 1939 in Åbenrå),

orthodontist Orthodontics (also referred to as orthodontia) is a dentistry specialty that addresses the diagnosis, prevention, management, and correction of mal-positioned teeth and jaws, as well as misaligned bite patterns. It may also address the modificati ...

Sport

* Morten Bruun (born 1965 in Åbenrå), retired footballer, played 464 games for

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

* Curt Hansen (born 1964 in Bov), Danish chess Grandmaster * Sidsel Bodholt Nielsen (born 1989 in Åbenrå), Danish handball player

Gallery

File:Aabenraa Museum Sønderjyllands Søfartsmuseum.jpg, Maritime Museum File:Rådhus Aabenraa.JPG, Town Hall File:Storetorv, Aabenraa 2009.jpg, Storetorv File:Aabenraa - Sct. Nicolai Kirke.jpg, St. Nicholas Church File:AabenraaBeach.jpg, Beach File:Vægterpladsen 1A, Aabenraa 01.jpg, Handwerkerhaus File:Vægterpladsen Aabenraa.jpg, Vægterpladsen Aabenraa File:Aabenraa - Storegade.JPG, Storegade

References

External links

Aabenraa Kommune (Danish)

Aabenraa Ugeavis (Danish)

Port of Aabenraa (English)

Jydske Vestkysten Aabenraa
Newspaper (Danish)
Der Nordschleswiger
Newspaper (German) * {{Authority control Municipal seats of the Region of Southern Denmark Municipal seats of Denmark Cities and towns in the Region of Southern Denmark Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea Aabenraa Municipality Port cities and towns in Denmark