Faxe or Fakse is a town on the island of

Zealand Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous islands of Denmark, island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 Januar ...

in eastern

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It is located in Faxe Municipality in

Region Zealand Region Zealand () is an Regions of Denmark, administrative region of Denmark. It is one of the five classified Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-2 statistical NUTS statistical regions of Denmark, regions of Denmark. It was es ...

. The town is most known for the Faxe Brewery,

Royal Unibrew Royal Unibrew is a brewing and beverage company headquartered in Faxe, Denmark. Its brands include Ceres brewery, Ceres, Faxe Brewery, Faxe, Albani Brewery, Albani, Thor Brewery, Thor, Karlens Brewery, Karlens and Royal. Royal Unibrew also has a s ...

, a relatively large brewery producing a range of beer and soft drinks, soda,

energy drink An energy drink is a type of non-alcoholic psychoactive functional beverage containing stimulant compounds, usually caffeine (at a higher concentration than ordinary soda pop) and taurine, which is marketed as reducing tiredness and improving pe ...

s, Faxe Kondi and many more and so on. On the edge of town lies a big

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

quarry (1 km²), Faxe Quarry owned by Faxe Kalk. A Haribo Licorice (“Haribo Lakrids A/S”) factory was also founded in Faxe in 1935.

History

The name ''Faxe'' is

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

and means " horse mane", probably a reference to its location on a long hill. The town is mentioned in 1280. The first church was built in 1440. For many years the letter x was considered unnatural in Danish and the Fakse spelling was enforced instead of the Old Norse Faxe. When hyphenated, the x still splits into ks (Fak-se). A

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

line between the Faxe Quarry and the harbor in Faxe Ladeplads opened in 1865. In 1879, the Østbanen railway line from Køge to Faxe opened. The two railway lines were connected in 1880. The quarry's narrow gauge railway was shut down many years ago, but one of the trains from the narrow gauge railway line is located in Faxe mini by as the only and the last train from the narrow gauge railway line.

Landmarks

Faxe Church is from the late 15th century. The half-timbered Rasmus Svendsens Skole from 1633 is Denmark's oldest still existing village school. The Jomfruens Egede estate traces its history to 1346.

Notable people

Rollo Rollo (, ''Rolloun''; ; ; – 933), also known with his epithet, Rollo "the Walker", was a Viking who, as Count of Rouen, became the first ruler of Normandy, a region in today's northern France. He was prominent among the Vikings who Siege o ...

(c. 846 in Faxe - c. 930) a viking and the first ruler of

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

. * Joachim Neergaard (1877 in Stubberup – 1920) a Danish composer. * Gunnar Andreasen (1914 in Faxe – 1996) a Danish boxer, competed in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

* Ib Nielsen (born 1926 in Faxe) a Danish rower, competed at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

* Knud Nielsen (born 1936 in Faxe) a Danish rower, competed at the

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

and

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

* Jens Berendt Jensen (born 1940 in Faxe) a Danish rower, competed at the

and

* Sven Lysholt Hansen (born 1945 in Faxe) a Danish rower, competed in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

* Niels Olsen (born 1948 in Faxe) a Danish rower, competed at the

Jesper Olsen Jesper Olsen (born 20 March 1961) is a Danish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, left winger. He is best remembered for representing AFC Ajax, Ajax of the Netherlands and Manchester United F.C ...

(born 1961 in Faxe) a Danish former footballer with 402 club caps and 43 for

Michael Maze Michael Maze (born 1 September 1981) is a professional table tennis player from Faxe, Denmark, in men's singles and doubles. In 2005 he was one of the top five left-handed players in the world. His strength was in his strong forehand loop and lo ...

(born 1981 in Faxe) a former professional table tennis player

Gallery

Image:Faxe Kalkbrud.JPG, Faxe Kalkbrud lime quarry

References

* Municipal statistics
NetBorger Kommunefakta
delivered fro
KMD
aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data) * Municipal mergers and neighbors
Eniro new municipalities map

External links