Harlev is a former railway town in

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality (), known as Århus Municipality () until 2011, is a ''Municipalities of Denmark, kommune'' in the Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and ...

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 ...

, with a population of 4,005 as of 1 January 2025.BY3: Population 1. January by rural and 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 ...

It is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

only 13 kilometres west of central

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 ...

and is located at the Danish national road 15.

History

Harlev developed as a

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated, or was expanded, as a result of a railway line being constructed there. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporary, ...

in 1902 when a train station of the former Hammelbanen rail road line was built on a field between the villages of Gammel Harlev and Framlev. Harlev church is still situated 1½ kilometre out of town in the older settlement of Gammel Harlev (lit.: Old Harlev). Hammelbanen formerly connected the inland town of Hammel with the port city of

and was important for the transportation of agricultural products, but it was decommissioned in 1956. The former train station in Harlev has since been restored and is currently headquarters to a local scouting group. Because of the position between Gammel Harlev and Framlev, the citizens of Harlev are still divided between the parishes of Harlev and Framlev.

Gammel Harlev

The village of Gammel Harlev, situated at a bend of the Aarhus River 1½ km from Harlev, is a much older settlement. Harlev church has been dated to around 1100 AD, and is thus among the first churches in Denmark. Harlev watermill from 1733 is no longer active as a watermill, but has been restored and repurposed as a conference center. The entire parish of Harlev was once part of the extensive Skanderborg Equestrian District (''Skanderborg Rytterdistrikt'') until 1784.Harald Nielsen: ''"Oversigt over udskiftningen i det forrige skanderborgske rytterdistrikt (o. 1770—1820)"'' (''Historie/Jyske Samlinger'', Ny række, Bind 3; 1954)

Notable people

* Henrik Wann Jensen (born 1969 in Harlev) a Danish computer graphics researcher

References

Sources

Archive of local history

External links

Towns and settlements in Aarhus Municipality Cities and towns in Aarhus Municipality {{CentralDK-stub