Guldborg is a fishing village spanning the islands of

Falster Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010.

and

Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the List of islands of Denmark#List of 100 largest Danish islands, fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Kattegat, Belts and Sund area, it is part of Re ...

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 belongs to Guldborgsund 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 ...

. In 2025 the village had a population of 495, with about 400 living on the Lolland side.BY3: Population 1 January, by urban areas
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 ...

The village is located at the narrowest point between the two islands where Guldborg Bridge crosses

Guldborgsund Guldborgsund is the strait between the Danish islands of Lolland and Falster. It connects Smålandsfarvandet in the north with the Bay of Mecklenburg in the south. The strait is about 30 kilometers long; its breadth varies from 150 meters a ...

(or Guldborg) Sound.

History

Guldborg was first documented as a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

village in 1569. During the

Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

(1657–1660), embankments were built along the shore but this did not prevent the

Swedes Swedes (), or Swedish people, are an ethnic group native to Sweden, who share a common ancestry, Culture of Sweden, culture, History of Sweden, history, and Swedish language, language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, ...

from conquering Lolland in 1658 and attempting to overcome the rest of Denmark. By 1859, there were two farms and 40 houses in Guldborg as well as an inn, a windmill and a

pilot station A pilot station is an onshore headquarters for maritime pilots, or a place where pilots can be hired from. To get from a pilot station to an approaching ship, pilots need to use fast vessels to arrive in time, i.e. a pilot boat. History Histor ...

. The early ferries were rowboats, replaced in 1867 by a

cable ferry A cable ferry (including the types chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

and in 1904 by a motor ferry with space for two horse-drawn carriages. The old ferry station was destroyed by a storm in 1862. Its replacement is now in an advanced state of deterioration. The ferry stopped operating in 1934 when Guldborg Bridge, also known as Christian X's Bridge, was opened. A harbour, built in the 1860s for shipping timber from the surrounding forests, was later also used for grain, pigs and cattle. From the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, Guldborg also had a dairy, a bakery, a pottery, a sawmill and a fruit plantation."Historien"
, Guldborg naturligvis. Retrieved 30 November 2012. From the mid-19th century, there was a wharf at Guldborg which was used mainly for building fishing boats. The first

quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

was established in 1947. The housework school, which operated from 1898 to 1905, was subsequently used as a women's college, then as a retirement home and latterly as a motel until 1997. Nearly all the traffic disappeared from Guldborg in 1988 when the Guldborgsund Tunnel connecting Falster and Lolland opened between Hjelms Nakke and Majbølle.

Today

Facilities in the village include a day nursery, food store, restaurant, activity centre and sailing services. There are bus connections with

Vordingborg Vordingborg () is a market town and old ferry town on the south coast of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Because of three large estates surrounding the town, a coherent urban development has not been possible, which is the reason why three sat ...

Nykøbing Falster Nykøbing Falster (; originally named Nykøbing) is a city on the island of Falster in southern Denmark. It has a population of 16,682 (1 January 2025). Including the satellite town Sundby (Lolland), Sundby on the Lolland side, with a populatio ...

and

Maribo Maribo is a town in Lolland Municipality in Region Zealand, Region Sjælland on the island of Lolland in south Denmark. It was the municipal seat of the former Maribo Municipality, until 1 January 2007, and then it became the seat of the cur ...

. Guldborg used to provide one of the most important ferry crossings between Falster and Lolland. As a result, many of the buildings originated as residential premises and warehouses for merchants. There are a number of galleries where local craftsmen display their paintings, jewellery, pottery, glasswork and textiles. Guldborg has an active sports club where some 350 members enjoy gymnastics, volleyball, football and rollerskating."Gulborg"
, Guldborgsundkommune. Retrieved 30 November 2012. Guldborg Folk & Show Festival, an annual event, brings together regional musicians.

Surroundings

Guldborg is surrounded by three forests: Hillesvigskoven, Nordskoven, and Storskoven; Storskoven contains historic relics. Guldborg also borders '' Svenskeskansen'' (“the Swedish bulwarks”) whose history stretches to the 1659 Dano-Swedish War. The village also has a beach with bathing facilities. The shore is popular with fishermen and ramblers. There are two marinas, one on each side of the

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

, with facilities for watersports. Both openings of Guldborg's double bascule-spanned bridge are lit. The bridge straddles a narrow part of the sound with only being of navigable width. The sound is icy from January through March. Three churches are nearby, one with a steeple (at Kippinge), one with a tower (at Brarup), and one with a stepped tower (at Majbølle).

References

External links

Guldborg naturligvis
local website {{Authority control Villages in Guldborgsund Municipality Falster Lolland