Aarhus Female Seminary ( Danish: ''Aarhus Kvindeseminarium'') is a building and a former women's teachers' seminary in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, Denmark situated on Trøjborgvej 82. The building was constructed for the religious Christian organization Indre Mission in 1910 to house a teachers' seminary for women. The building has housed educational institutions since it was built although Indre Mission no longer owns the building. The name of the school has changed over the years as it has transitioned through different operators but

VIA University College VIA University College is a university college () in Central Denmark.It was established in January 2008. It has a total of eight campuses. History The university colleges in Denmark were established as a result of a series of mergers of smalle ...

may be the last as the college will eventually relocate to

CeresByen CeresByen (English: ''CeresCity'') is a neighbourhood in Midtbyen, a district of the city of Aarhus, Denmark. It is a mixed residential and commercial area, comprising the site of the former Ceres Brewery operating here from 1856 until November 2 ...

. The building was designed by the architect Frits Jensen who gave it a French palace-expression.

Background

In the early 1900s there was a construction boom in the neighborhood of

Trøjborg Trøjborg is a neighborhood in the city of Aarhus, Denmark in Skt. Johannes parish with about 11,000 residents as of 2015. The neighborhood is part of the district Aarhus N and borders the neighborhoods Nørre Stenbro to the South West, Risskov to ...

and the religious organization Indre Mission joined in when it was decided to construct a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

in Aarhus. Similar to the construction of St. John's Church in 1905 it was to be funded by private means. Indre Mission started collecting contributions from their members to establish the seminary along with homes for about 3 students. In 1909 it was decided the economic conditions were favorable enough to start construction. Ground had not yet been broken when Indre Mission rented rooms in a villa and started teaching two classes while the teacher and rector lived on the first floor. The seminary was placed next to the ''Finsensgade School'' so teacher students could use the elementary school to practice and learn. The seminary was completed in 1910 and was inaugurated on 30 November.

Seminary

The student body was generally diverse but the teachers and rectors were selected and approved by Indre Mission. The initial school in 1910 was known as the Aarhus Female Seminary but in 1931 it became co-ed and was renamed to the ''Aarhus Seminary'' (Danish: ''Aarhus Seminarium''). In 1989 Aarhus Seminary merged with Marselisborg Seminary and was renamed to Aarhus Common-Seminary (Danish: ''Århus Fællesseminarium'') and in 1995 the school was renamed again to Aarhus Day- and Evening Seminary (Danish: ''Århus Dag- og Aftenseminarium''). In 2008

was created and took over the school, renaming it ''VIA Læreruddannelsen''. In 2016, the school left the building and moved to the new

neighborhood. Over time some 5000 people have graduated as teachers from the school.

Architecture

The building was designed by architect ''Frits Jensen''. The period is notable for an architectural style which emulated French palace architecture with light, plastered facades, often with

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...

s and a facade divided with

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s and

lesene A lesene, also called a pilaster strip, is an architectural term for a narrow, low-relief vertical pillar on a wall. It resembles a pilaster, but does not have a base or capital. It is typical in Lombardic and Rijnlandish architectural building ...

s and decorated with festons, floral vines or reefs. The Aarhus Female Seminary is an imposing example of trend and one of only a few in the neighborhood. In 1932 it had become necessary to expand the school since new laws had made higher-education gendered schools illegal. The new building was situated next to the original building and was designed with a rational Functionalist expression.

References

External links

{{coord, 56, 10, 15.1, N, 10, 12, 28.2, E, region:DK_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dawiki, display=title 1910 establishments in Denmark Buildings and structures completed in 1910

Female Seminary A female seminary is a Private school, private educational institution for women, popular especially in the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when opportunities in Women's education in the United States, educational in ...

Educational institutions established in 1910

Background

Seminary

Architecture

See also

References

External links