Midtbyen (lit. "The Mid-town"), also known as Aarhus Center or City, is the inner part of

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 ...

. Midtbyen is part of district

Aarhus C Aarhus C is a postal district in the city of Aarhus, Denmark, consisting of the Indre by, Aarhus, Inner city, Vesterbro, Aarhus, Vesterbro, University of Aarhus, Frederiksbjerg, Langenæs and Aarhus Ø, with postal code 8000. The district is commo ...

, mainly with postal code 8000, together with Vesterbro, Nørre Stenbro Trøjborg and Frederiksbjerg and has a population of around 90000. Midtbyen is characterized by narrow, winding, cobbled streets and a busy street life, with many small squares, cafés and shops. Parts of the old town center has been saved and protected from destructive modern development and can be experienced in the neighbourhood of Latinerkvarteret, but old individual listed houses are scattered all across Midtbyen. A large part of the area is carfree and the neighborhood has been increasingly pedestrianised. The square of Store Torv (lit.: ''large square'') in front of the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

, forms a natural centre of the large pedestrian zone. The stream of Aarhus Å flows through Midtbyen and adds to the areas' distinct charm. The waterway was covered by roads for many decades, but has recently been opened up again.

History

Midtbyen comprise the oldest part of the city of

and was where the town itself originated more than a thousand years ago. Midtbyen dates back to at least late 700 AD, at the beginning of the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

and was originally and previously confined by fortifications and walls. Nowadays the defensive walls are long gone, but survive in placenames such as Nørreport (English: ''Northern Gate'') and a number of streets named after their location relative to the old town center, such as Søndergade, Nørregade and Vestergade meaning ''southern street'', ''northern street'' and ''western street'' respectively. A similar naming structure can be observed in many older Danish towns and cities. The canal of the

Aarhus River Aarhus River () is a long river, in eastern Jutland, Denmark. The river flows through the large river valley of Aarhus Ådal. The valley itself, stretches from Silkeborg to the coastal city of Aarhus, but the Aarhus River only runs through the e ...

runs through Midtbyen, along the street of Åboulevarden and was important to the development of the early settlements, that sprawled around it.

Infrastructure

The streets in Midtbyen are mostly narrow and laid out in a somewhat chaotic pattern. Many are closed to motorized traffic, instead serving as

pedestrian zone Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

s with a lively street life and shopping opportunities. Outside of these areas, a lot of the roads are one way directed and it can be difficult to navigate or find a free parking spot, if you do not know the area well. Midtbyen has some heavy traffic during rush hours and it can also be a problem. To guide the traffic and take of the pressure, the inner city of Aarhus is surrounded by a number of

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

s. In Midtbyen, the streets of Nørre Allé (''Northern Avenue''), Vester Allé (''Western Avenue'') and Sønder Allé (''Southern Avenue''), works as a ring road, following the former city walls of medieval times and guiding the traffic around the narrow and most difficult streets of the inner centre. There are several large car parks in or just outside the city centre, including

Magasin du Nord Magasin is a Denmark, Danish chain of department stores. It has seven department stores with its flagship store located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The company is a subsidiary of the German department store retailer Peek & Cloppenburg, Peek & ...

, Dokk1, Salling, Brunn's Galleri, Scandinavian Center and Storcenter Nord. Most of the yellow city buses in Aarhus pass through Midtbyen, while the blue regional and Inter-city buses terminate at the Aarhus Bus Terminal close to the

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

. The street of Park Allé (''Park Avenue'') next to the

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, serves as a major bus hub. Even though the traffic situation can be difficult for motorized vehicles, it is fairly easy and safe to walk or bike around Midtbyen. Major roads has bike paths next to them and some streets are dedicated bike roads. It is not allowed to bike in the pedestrianised zones.

Gallery

Lille Torv (maj) 01.jpg, Lille Torv, one of many cobblestone squares Aarhus Cathedral (Bispetorvet).jpg, Aarhus Cathedral Bispetorv (Aarhus) 01.jpg, Aarhus theatre at the central square of Bispetorvet. Museumsgade 2 (facade).jpg, Historicist architecture Mølleparken (åen) 01.jpg, The Aarhus Canal. It was vital to the city's early development. Strøget (maj).jpg, ''Strøget'', central pedestrianized shopping street Århus Rådhus 01.jpg, Aarhus City Hall ARoS Arhus Art Museum - panoramio.jpg, ARoS art museum Vennelystparken (maj) 05.jpg, University Park

Sources

* Magistratens 2. Afdeling (1984):
Den Indre By - Århus
' Kommuneatlas, Aarhus Municipality.

External links

{{Aarhus Aarhus C

History

Infrastructure

Gallery

See also

Sources

External links