Bandholm is a small port town and parish on the coast of northern

Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitant ...

Region Zealand Region Zealand ( da, Region Sjælland) is the southernmost administrative region of Denmark, established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter") and set up five larger regi ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. On 1 January 2022 it had a population of 476, and is located to the northwest of

Knuthenborg Safari Park Knuthenborg Safaripark is a safari park on the island of Lolland in the southeast of Denmark. It is located 7 km (on Rte 289) to the north of Maribo, near Bandholm. It is one of Lolland's major tourist attractions with over 250,000 visitors ...

and

Maribo Maribo is a town in Lolland Municipality in 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 current Lolland Muni ...

. From Bandholm there is ferry service to

Askø Askø is a Danish island north of Lolland. It covers an area of 2.82 km2 and has 55 permanent inhabitants (as of 1 January 2005) as well as hundreds of summer vacation properties. It is connected to the neighbouring island of Lilleø by a 700 ...

and rail link to Maribo, north of Maribo.

Stokkemarke Stokkemarke is a village on the Danish island of Lolland located midway between Nakskov and Maribo. In January 2022 it had a population of 406. Stokkemarke Church, first documented in 1396, originally built in the Romanesque style, has Gothic ad ...

is its west and Østofte Parish forms its southwest border. It is served by

Bandholm Station Bandholm is a small port town and parish on the coast of northern Lolland, Region Zealand, Denmark. On 1 January 2022 it had a population of 476, and is located to the northwest of Knuthenborg Safari Park and Maribo. From Bandholm there is ferry s ...

. The Maribo-to-Bandholm rail branch is operated by the Museumsbanen Maribo-Bandholm as a preserved railway. In the 1800s, Bandholm was known for a major cholera epidemic, where the fight was led by

Peter Ludvig Panum Peter Ludvig Panum (19 December 1820 – 2 May 1885) was a Danish physiologist and pathologist born on the island of Bornholm in Rønne. The Panum Institute in Copenhagen is named in his honor. Early life and education Panum was born in Rønn ...

in 1853.

History

Bandholm has a history going back thousands of years as can be seen from the burial mounds from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

in the immediate neighborhood. The port seems to have been used for centuries for ships with supplies for Maribo Abbey. The area then developed with warehouses and storage facilities for goods to be sent to Maribo and

Rødby Rødby is a town, with a population of 1,983 (1 January 2022),Knuthenborg Knuthenborg is a manor house located north of Maribo on the Danish island of Lolland. Originally known as Årsmarke, it was first mentioned in 1372. Today's building was completed in 1866 to a design by Henrik Steffens Sibbern. The medieval manor ...

estate and the castle, which owned the port and also some of the houses (distinctive in their yellow exteriors) in the town and its extensive surroundings. In recent years the

has made the port town a focal point of for over 200,000 tourists a year. The old port has been further improved with a state of the art

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

for

yachts A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

as well as facilities on the west side of the harbor for use by boaters. Bandholm has developed not only into a prosperous port but has also benefitted from the establishment of an iron foundry, hotels and a vibrant commercial life in connection with the railway. However, the city offers plenty of alternate opportunities for enterprising businesses, and local initiatives have ensured restoration of the heritage status of many of the old structures, especially the granaries (for other uses) and the old railway station.

Port

Initially, the channel leading to the port was dredged to allow vessels to pass through to a depth of over a width of with a widened stretch of for vessels to negotiate a turn. A pier was built with a length of and a width of at its head in order to facilitate quick and easy loading of grain; there were also two shorter piers for use by smaller vessels in a draft of . The port served the town of Maribo which is located 4 miles (6 km) away with connections to

Nakskov Nakskov is a town in south Denmark. It is situated in Lolland municipality in Region Sjælland on the western coast of the island of Lolland. The town has a population of 12,495 (1 January 2022). To the west is Nakskov Fjord, an inlet from the La ...

Rødby Rødby is a town, with a population of 1,983 (1 January 2022),Sakskøbing Sakskøbing (), previously spelled Sakskjøbing, is a town with a population of 4,595 (1 January 2022). Today, appropriate, navigational facilities are operated during the season with red lights, range lights at fixed heights, buoys, and a channel marked out with red spar buoys to facilitate navigation into and out of the harbor. The tidal fluctuation noted every 6 hours is of the order of 1 foot at the harbor. During gales it varies between .

Notable landmarks

Bandholm Church designed by Henrik Steffens Sibbern was completed in 1874. Built of red brick in the

Romanesque Revival style Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

, it consists of a chancel, a nave and a tower with a conical spire."Bandholm kirke"
''Historisk Atlas''. Retrieved 7 August 2013.

A prominent wheat silo, now converted into an exhibition centre, stands on the harbor's east side while a red church with a slender spire is located near the town's west end. Built in 1886, the Bandholm Hotel is situated on the coast road near Knuthenborg Safari Park. The Maribo-Bandholm Museum was founded in 1962; it houses the oldest running steam locomotive in the country and the oldest private railway track (1869).

Notable people

Knud Olsen Knud Olsen (1919 in Præstø – 31 August 2010 in Bandholm) was a Danish builder and designer of boats, who designed one of the most popular sailing dinghies in use over the past 50 years, the OK (dinghy), OK Dinghy, which became an International ...

(1919 – 2010 in Bandholm) a Danish builder and designer of boats, who designed the OK Dinghy, one of the most popular sailing dinghies; he lived and worked in Bandholm from 1961

References

External links

{{Lolland Cities and towns in Region Zealand Lolland Lolland Municipality