Frederikshavn () is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

town in Frederikshavn municipality,

Region Nordjylland The North Jutland Region ( da, Region Nordjylland), or in some official sources, the North Denmark Region, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform, which abolished the tr ...

, on the northeast coast of the

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

peninsula in northern

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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Its name translates to "Frederik's harbor". It was originally named Fladstrand. The town has a population of 22,672 (1 January 2022), and is an important traffic portal with its ferry connections to Gothenburg in Sweden. The town is well known for fishing and its fishing and industrial harbours. Frederikshavn's oldest building, Fiskerklyngen, is originally from the mid-16th century, but the houses now there are from 18th–19th centuries.

History

Frederikshavn was originally called ''Fladstrand'' (lit. "Flat beach") from its location in Flade parish.

Fladstrand

The first mention of a settlement is in a letter dated 13 March 1572 found in the Danish chancery letterbooks. It was a fishing village, trading place and crossing point to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The old Fladstrand church was built between 1686 and 1690. On 31 December 1700 a tax of 500 rigsdaler was put on the town which indicates a fair amount of trade. During the

Great Nordic War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedis ...

from 1700 to 1721 the town saw a rise in activity as travellers to

embarked from here as the route over Sweden was cut. The activity slowly subsided after the war. A royal maritime pilot was stationed at the town from 1733 after King Christian VI was forced to stay in the town due to bad weather on his journey to Norway. In 1735 the town was described as a hamlet which supports itself on fishing and beaching of

scow A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. S ...

s and some farming ( fæstebønder).

Military history in 17th, 18th and 19th centuries

Due to its advantageous proximity to the entrance to the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

, Frederikshavn has historically been a

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

of some strategic importance. In 1627 under Kejserkrigen, Melchior von Hatzfeldt troops built a Sconce north of the fishing village. The sconce became known as ''Nordre Skanse'' and is preserved to this day. After the war this was manned by Danish troops. In 1675 the fortification was expanded with a sconse south of the harbour. Between 1686 and 1687 the fortification was expanded again with a heavy tower, a wall and a port. It was described as a

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. I ...

. The tower is known as Krudttårnet, (lit. "Gunpowder Tower"). In 1891 the wall and port was demolished, but the tower has been preserved. Krudttårnet is incorporated in the municipality's

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...

. During the

from 1700 to 1721

Peter Tordenskjold Peter Jansen Wessel Tordenskiold (28 October 1690 – 12 November 1720), commonly referred to as Tordenskjold (), was a Norwegian nobleman and flag officer who spent his career in the service of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. He rose to the ran ...

barricaded himself here in his fights against Sweden. In 1712 the Battle of Fladstrand was fought in the nearby sea between

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and

naval forces. In 1735, 50 Danish men were stationed at the fortress. From the middle of the 18th century the military importance of the citadel was dwindling and some of the fortifications and building was disposed of. It gained new importance during the

Gunboat War The Gunboat War (, ; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Na ...

from 1807 to 1814, but its value diminished again after the war. The citadel was discontinued in 1864.

Market town

During the

, the town saw increasing trade and activity. The first artificial harbour was constructed from 1808 to 1810 due to the war and after several years of strong promotion of the local merchant Frantz Übersax. Denmark's defeat in the war had a great impact in Fladstrand. The military left and the town largest source of income ceased. Denmark's general economic crisis worsened the situation. The town did not have status as a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

, but trade, craft and other activities exclusive to market towns had happened unlawful in Fladstrand for several decades anyway. A majority of the population had livelihoods based on crafts, services and trade, not production. This was used by the local civil servant as an argument for giving the town market town status ( da, købstadsrettigheder). The harbour directorate ( da, Kanal-, havne- og fyrdirektionen) argued that it was a strategic place for a harbour and giving the town market town status and legalising the current activities would help with the upkeep. On 25 September 1818

Frederik VI Frederick VI (Danish and no, Frederik; 28 January 17683 December 1839) was King of Denmark from 13 March 1808 to 3 December 1839 and King of Norway from 13 March 1808 to 7 February 1814, making him the last king of Denmark–Norway. From 1784 ...

bestowed the town status as a market town under the name of Frederikshavn.

From 1818

During the 1970s the ship yard wanted to expand with a dry dock at the location of Krudttårnet. Between 1974 and 1976 the engineering firm Kampsax and the local contractor Trigon encased the tower in concrete and moved it 270m along

teflon Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemo ...

rails to its current location. The project was delayed when a storm broke a retaining wall between Christmas and New Year 1975 filling the new dry dock with water and causing the base beneath the tower to collapse. The movement was celebrated 5. August 1976 with the visit from

Margrethe II of Denmark Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

and her family. Stena Line operated a ferry service from Frederikshavn to

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, Norway from 1979 to March 14, 2020. It was served by three different ferries named Stena Saga. From 1979 to 1988 by former M/S Patricia built in 1967. From 1988 to 1994 by later

MS Stena Europe MS ''Stena Europe'' is a ferry owned by Stena Line and operated on its Fishguard— Rosslare service. Early career MS ''Stena Europe'' was built in 1981 by the Götaverken shipyard in Gothenburg, Sweden as MS ''Kronprinsessan Victoria'' fo ...

. From 1994 to 2020 it was served by

MS Stena Saga MS ''Stena Saga'' is a cruiseferry owned by the Swedish shipping company Stena Line and was operating mainly on their route connecting Oslo, Norway to Frederikshavn, Denmark until March 2020, after that the route was closed down. She was built ...

. It was first closed temporary due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

. The decision to close it permanently was announced a few days later on March 19. The Oslo route was reopened by

DFDS Seaways DFDS Seaways is a Danish shipping company that operates passenger and freight services across northern Europe. Following the acquisition of Norfolkline in 2010, DFDS restructured its other shipping divisions ( DFDS Tor Line and DFDS Lisco) ...

on June 25, 2020 by the ferries traveling to and from Copenhagen which began stopping in Frederikshavn. There is a single departure and arrival per day. The route is serviced by MS Pearl Seaways and

MS Crown Seaways MS ''Crown Seaways'' is a cruiseferry operated by DFDS Seaways on a route connecting Copenhagen & Frederikshavn in Denmark to Oslo, Norway. The ship was built in 1994 by Brodosplit in Split, Croatia. She was originally ordered by Euroway and w ...

Economy

Companies in the area include MAN/BW Alpha and the Navy Base Frederikshavn (''Flådestation Frederikshavn''). Frederikshavn, like the rest of North Jutland, was hit with hard

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...

. The town's largest workplace, the shipyard Danyard, closed in the late 1990s. This resulted in more than 2,000 workers being unemployed. Today there is still activity at the large ship building area, with many small companies renting space there. In summer 2008, the unemployment rate, like the rest of Denmark, fell to a minimum low record of approximately 2%. As with many provincial municipalities around the world, some of its young people leave to large urban cities. However, the municipality is currently engaged in many innovative projects which are attracting tourists and aim to retain population. Frederikshavn is currently beginning a transition to make it the first medium-sized city/large town in the world to rely exclusively on renewable energy resources for power, including transportation and cars. The process is expected to be completed by 2030. As of 2010, the city was powered 18% by renewable energy.

Martin Professional Martin Professional (''Harman Professional Denmark ApS'') is a Danish manufacturer and distributor of stage and architectural lighting and effects fixtures. It is owned by Harman International Industries, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. ...

had a large presence before its closure in 2016.

In culture

The da, frederikshavner, lit=Someone from Frederikshavn, label=

term is used to denote a quality

plaice Plaice is a common name for a group of flatfish that comprises four species: the European, American, Alaskan and scale-eye plaice. Commercially, the most important plaice is the European. The principal commercial flatfish in Europe, it is al ...

. It is probably the most popular fish eaten in Denmark. The drama television series ''Norskov'' (2015–2017) was filmed in and around Frederikshavn.

Attractions

* Bangsbo Museum * Frederikshavn Art Museum (''Frederikshavn Kunstmuseum'') * Frederikshavn Shipyard Historical Society (''Værftshistorisk Selskab Frederikshavn'') * Tordenskiold Festival, celebrated since 1998. * Lighting Festival, biannual festival. * Bangsbo Flower Festival * Bangsbo Fort * Bangsbo Botanical Garden

Sports

Frederikshavn White Hawks The Frederikshavn White Hawks are a Danish professional ice hockey team playing in the top Danish ice hockey league currently called the Metal Ligaen. The team is based in the town of Frederikshavn Frederikshavn () is a Danish town in Frederiks ...

are the local professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team playing in the premier Danish

league,

Metal Ligaen Metal Ligaen is the premier league in Danish ice hockey. The league consists of 9 professional teams. The name of the league has changed many times, but is being sponsored by Dansk Metal and therefore got the name Metalligaen. History It is ...

Infrastructure

Transportation

Frederikshavn Banegaard Nordjyske Jernbane

Three major roads connect Frederikshavn. E 45 connects to Aalborg in the south. Frederikshavn is the northern end of E 45 in Denmark. The route continues via the ferry in Gothenburg. Danish national road 35 connects

Hjørring Hjørring () is a town on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Hjørring Municipality in the North Jutland Region. The population is 25,644 (ac ...

to the west.

Danish national road 40 Danish national road 40 (), is a Danish national road in Vendsyssel in North Jutland between Skagen and Frederikshavn Frederikshavn () is a Danish town in Frederikshavn municipality, Region Nordjylland, on the northeast coast of the Jutland ...

connects

Skagen Skagen () is Denmark's northernmost town, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalborg. The Port of Skage ...

to the north. A secondary route connects to Brønderslev towards southwest. Frederikshavn is served by Frederikshavn railway station. It is the

terminal train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...

of the

Vendsyssel Vendsyssel () is the northernmost traditional district of Denmark and of Jutland. Being divided from mainland Jutland by the Limfjord, it is technically a part of the North Jutlandic Island, but the name often used informally for the entire island. ...

and

railway lines and offers direct

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

services to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

regional train Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster servi ...

services to Aalborg and

local train Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster servi ...

services to

. Ferry service to

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

, in Sweden with StenaLine and

, in

with

DFDS DFDS is a Danish international shipping and logistics company. It is the busiest shipping company of its kind in Northern Europe and one of the busiest in Europe. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (literall ...

. There is also a ferry service to the Island of

Læsø Læsø ("Isle of Hlér") is the largest island in the North Sea bay of Kattegat, and is located off the northeast coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the Danish mainland. Læsø is also the name of the municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') on that ...

The nearest airport with scheduled national and international flights is Aalborg Airport 66 km away.

Port of Frederikshavn

Port of Frederikshavn is the largest harbour in Frederikshavn. It is a commercial port owned by Frederikshavn Municipality. It includes a ferry harbour, a cargo harbour and a large service industry. It has historically been dominated by the shipyard industry and fishing. Frederikshavn was in the late 19th century the dominant harbour for large fishing vessels in Denmark. The European shipyard industry was hit with difficulties in the 1980s and Danyard, the largest shipyard in Frederikshavn closed in December 1999. The

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

took over the harbour from the state in 2001. The site of the former Danyard was over the next 20 years transformed into a business park and the activity gradually went from manufacturing to service.

20152020 port expansion

In 2015 a large expansion of the port was started. The first of three phases was constructed from 2015 to 2018 by contractor Per Aarsleff. The official delivery from the contractor was on 8 June 2018. The officially inauguration coincided with the towns 200 year anniversary as a merchant town on 25 September 2018. The expansion makes it possible to receive larger ships and offshore installations, handle more bulk material and a flexible area for projects. The first phase added 330.000 square metre hinterland and 600 metre of quay with a water depth 11 metre. Most of the quay and hinterland areas in the first phase have been leased by

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

-based Modern American Recycling Services for an 11-year period. In July 2018 they secured a contract to scrap the two platforms from

Tyra Field Tyra Field is the largest gas condensate field in the Danish Sector of the North Sea. It was discovered in 1968 and production started in 1984. The field is owned by Dansk Undergrunds Consortium, a partnership between Total, Noreco and Nordso ...

. They are expected to begin the first recycling assignment in 2020 and create more than 200 jobs. Construction of Scandinavia's largest bunkering terminal is underway on the new area. It will consists of 11 storage tanks with a combined capacity of 744000 m³. It is scheduled for completion by the end of 2020. It will be leased to Stena Oil. In November 2018 all the hinterland areas of the first phase have been leased. Five 2000 m² large warehouses have been constructed on the new area. The planning of the second stage of the expansion was started in June 2017. Construction started in October 2017. It is nearly completed as of December 2019. The second phase will add 170.000 square metre of hinterland and 400 metre of quay. The quay constructed in phase one will be deepened to 14 metres. When the second phase is complete the total area of the harbour will be . A further expansion in third phase is an option if there is demand.

Naval Base

South of the commercial port is

Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). Oth ...

Naval Harbour Frederikshavn. It is home to Danish navy 1st Squadron and Naval Operational Logistic Support Structure, OPLOG FRH. It is also the home location for the

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

'' Danmark'' and the royal yacht ''Dannebrog''. It was home to the national

icebreakers An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

before their decommission in 2012. The naval harbour was inaugurated on 2 October 1962.

Marinas

The also town has a number of smaller marinas (listed in order from north to south): * Rønner Harbour (''Rønnerhavn''): pleasureboat, dinghy and fishing harbour * Northern Entrenchment Harbour (''Nordre Skanse Havn''): dinghy harbour * Frederikshavn Marina (''Frederikshavn Marina''): pleasureboat, dinghy and houseboat harbou

* Neppen's Harbour (''Neppens Havn''): dinghy harbour

Education

EUC Nord EUC Nord is the fusion of the technical schools in Hjørring and Frederikshavn, in Vendsyssel in Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , ...

- a technical school located partly in Frederikshavn.

Media

Kanal Frederikshavn

Notable people

* Christian Henrik Arendrup (1837–1913), Governor-General of

The Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with ; Saint John ( da, St. Jan) with ; and Saint Croix with . The ...

1881–1893 *

Karl Bovin Karl (Kalle) Christian Bovin (1907–1985) was a Danish painter whose work focused on landscapes of Odsherred, a region in the north-west of Zealand. In the 1930s, he became a central member in the Odsherred Painters artists' colony and helped ...

(1907–1985), painter, key member the

Odsherred Painters Odsherred Painters ( da, Odsherredsmalerne) is a term applied to Danish artists from various periods with connections to Odsherred in the northwest of Zealand, Denmark. Some were born there while others settled in the area or painted there. While ...

* Elsa Gress (1919–1988), essayist, novelist and dramatist *

Allan Olsen Allan Olsen (born 18 March 1956 in Grønholt, Vendsyssel) is a Danish folkrock musician and singer-songwriter. His famous live performances combine his songs with satirical and dryly-tempered anecdotes. The music is delivered either acoustically ...

(born 1956), pop musician * Henrik I. Christensen (born 1962),

roboticist Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

in San Diego, California *

Connie Nielsen Connie Inge-Lise Nielsen (born 3 July 1965) is a Danish actress. She has starred as Lucilla in the film ''Gladiator'' (2000) and as Hippolyta in the DC Extended Universe, and in the films ''Wonder Woman'' (2017), '' Justice League'' (2017), '' ...

(born 1965), actress * Anja Ringgren Lovén (born 1978), protects children accused of being witches in Nigeria *

Ditte Ejlerskov Ditte Ejlerskov (born 1982) is a Danish contemporary artist. She was born in Frederikshavn, Denmark, and lives and works in Denmark. In 2017, her official portrait of Helle Thorning-Schmidt at Christiansborg was positively received by local critic ...

(born 1982), contemporary artist

Sport

* Gustaf Nielsen (1910–1973), sports shooter *

Harald Nielsen Harald Ingemann Nielsen (26 October 1941 – 11 August 2015) was a Danish footballer who played as a forward. He played professionally for Italian club Bologna F.C. where he was the league top scorer (''capocannoniere'') in Bologna's 1964 Ser ...

(1941–2015), footballer *

Peter Møller Peter Møller Nielsen (born 23 March 1972) is a Danish former professional football player who became a sports journalist after ending his football career in December 2005. In 2018 he became sporting director of Dansk Boldspil Union. He won fo ...

(born 1972), footballer and sports journalist * Søren Frederiksen (born 1972) football player and manager * Lotte Kiærskou (born 1975), handballer, twice Olympic winner * Gitte Aaen (born 1981), handballer * Mads Christensen (born 1984), ice hockey player *

Hans-Kristian Vittinghus Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (born 16 January 1986) is a Danish badminton player. He was a member of the winning Denmark team at the 2016 Thomas Cup in Kunshan, China. Career Junior He won 4 junior national titles, 2 in singles in 2003 ...

(born 1986), badminton player * Lise Munk (born 1989), footballer *

Lucas Bjerregaard Lucas Justra Bjerregaard (born 14 August 1991) is a Danish professional golfer who plays the European Tour. In May 2017, playing with Thorbjørn Olesen, they won the inaugural GolfSixes, an unofficial pairs event on the European Tour. Later that ...

(born 1991), golfer

Twin towns – sister cities

Frederikshavn practices twinning on the municipal level. For the twin towns, see twin towns of Frederikshavn Municipality.

Notes

References

External links

Visit Frederikshavn
Official tourism site
{{Authority control Municipal seats of the North Jutland Region Municipal seats of Denmark Cities and towns in the North Jutland Region Port cities and towns in Denmark Port cities and towns of the North Sea Frederikshavn Municipality fo:Frederikshavn kommuna