Thisted is a town in the municipality of Thisted in the
North Denmark Region of
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 has a population of 13,505 (1 January 2025)
[BY3: Population 1. January by urban areas, area and population density](_blank)
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 ...
and is located in
Thy, in northwestern
Jutland
Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...
.
Market town status was given to Thisted in 1500.
Name
The town's name derives from the
Germanic deity
Tyr and could be translated as ''Tyr's Stead''.
History

During the Jutland Peasant rebellion of 1441,
Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark, approached the rebel camp at Husby Hole near St. Jørgen's Hill in northern Jutland and sent word that anyone who left the camp and went home, would not be punished for rebellion. The men from Thisted, as well as those of
Mors, left for which they were afterwards called cowards and traitors.
In 1882, Thisted was connected with the
Danish rail network as the
Thy railway line between Thisted and
Struer opened.
Geography
Thisted is located in northwestern
Jutland
Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...
, in the traditional district of
Thy, which forms the western part of the
North Jutlandic Island. It is located on the northern shore of
Thisted Bredning, a
body of water
A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as ponds, wetlands, or more rare ...
between Thy and the island of
Mors, which itself is a part of the
Limfjord, a
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 ...
separating the North Jutlandic Island from the rest of the Jutland Peninsula. Thisted is located on three ridges, divided by two streams.
Demographics
Thisted has a population of 13,461, of which 6,622 males and 6,839 females (1 January 2022).
Economy
Thisted has a cluster of industries within food production: the Tican Slaughterhouse, Dragsbæk Maltfactory, Dragsbæk Margarinefactory, the brewery
Thisted Bryghus, known for its high quality organic beer, and Premier Ice.
Cityscape
Burial mound
Langdos, the largest
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
burial mound in Denmark, is located in Thisted. The burial mound is 175 meters long and was built between 1800 and 1000 BC.
Thisted Church

Thisted features a
Gothic-style church,
Thisted Church, which replaced a smaller
Romanesque-style church around 1490. The exterior of the church contains a stone with
Runic inscriptions.
Sports
Soccer
Thisted has a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
team
Thisted FC in the
Danish 2nd Division (2022–2023 season)
Infrastructure
Rail
Thisted is served by
Thisted railway station () which opened in 1882. It is the northern
terminus of the
Thy railway line which connects Thisted with
Struer to the south. Thisted station offers frequent
local train services to
Struer station with onward connections by train from Struer to the rest of Denmark. Until 2019, it also offered direct
InterCity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
services to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
.
Air
The small
Thisted Airport () is owned by
Thisted municipality, and is located 15 kilometers from Thisted. The airport opened in 1970, and until 2007 serviced daily flights between Thisted and the Danish capital,
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
. Today, the nearest
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
from Thisted with scheduled national and
international flights is
Aalborg Airport east of Thisted (road distance).
Education
There are several educational institutions in Thisted. There are three schools, Østre skole, Rolighedskolen, and Tingstrup skole. There's also a
gymnasium,
Higher Preparatory Examination,
Higher Commercial Examination Programme and
Higher Technical Examination Programme.
Notable people

*
Conrad Malte-Brun (1775 in Thisted – 1826) a Dano-French geographer, coined the name
Oceania
Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...
*
Hendrik Pontoppidan (1814 in Thisted – 1901) a Danish merchant, consul and philanthropist
*
Christen Mikkelsen Kold (1816 in Thisted – 1870) a teacher, created the Danish high-school system
*
Knud Graah (1817–1909) a Norwegian industrialist and pioneer in the Norwegian textile industry
*
Jens Peter Jacobsen (1847 in Thisted – 1885) a Danish novelist, poet and scientist
*
Peter Tom-Petersen (1861 in Thisted – 1926) a painter and graphic artist of cityscapes and interiors
*
Grethe Rask (1930 in Thisted – 1977) a physician and surgeon in
Zaïre, one of the first non-Africans to die of AIDS
*
Yutte Stensgaard (born 1946) an actress, known for her role in
Hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...
's ''
Lust for a Vampire'' (1971)
*
Mogens Dahl (born 1953 in Thisted) a Danish conductor, founded
Mogens Dahl Concert Hall
*
Kato (DJ) (born 1981 in Thisted) stage name of ''Thomas Kato Vittrup'', a DJ and music producer
*
Junior Senior (active 1998–2008) a pop duo from Thisted, Denmark
Sport
*
Annette Jørgensen (born 1966 in Thisted) a swimmer, competed in the
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...
*
Jesper Grønkjær (born 1977 in Nuuk, Greenland) raised in Thisted, is a former Danish professional footballer
*
Mads Agesen (born 1983 in Thisted) a Danish footballer, captain at
Randers FC
*
Frederikke Thøgersen (born 1995 in Thisted) a Danish professional football player, plays for
Fortuna Hjørring and the
Denmark women's national football team
*
Malthe Jakobsen (born 2003 in Thisted) a Danish racing driver
Emigrants to the United States
*
Hans Ditlev Bendixsen (1842 in Thisted – 1902) (emigrated c.1865) an American shipbuilder, developed the merchant marine industry on the West Coast of the United States
*
Lawrence Waldemar Tonner (1861 in Thisted – 1947) (emigrated 1870) companion and personal secretary of composer and pianist
Francis Grierson for more than 40 years
See also
*
Østerild Wind Turbine Test Field
References
{{Authority control
Municipal seats of the North Jutland Region
Municipal seats of Denmark
Cities and towns in the North Jutland Region
Thisted Municipality