Gedser is a town at the southern tip of the

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 ...

island of

Falster Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010.

in the

Guldborgsund Municipality Guldborgsund is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Sjælland in Denmark, created on 1 January 2007 from six (6) former municipalities on the two islands Lolland in the west and Falster in the east bordering the Guldborgsund strait. It ...

Sjælland Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

region. It is the southernmost town in Denmark, and also the southernmost point of

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

and the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

. The town has a population of 657 (1 January 2022). It is an important port town on 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 from ...

History

Overview

Gedser Church Gedser Church lies in the town of Gedser on the southern tip of the Danish island of Falster. It is the church of Gedser Parish. Completed in 1915, it was designed by Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint, best known for designing Grundtvig's Church in Cop ...

was designed by

Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint (21 June 1853 – 1 December 1930) was a Danish architect, designer, painter and architectural theorist, best known for designing Grundtvig's Church in Copenhagen, generally considered to be one of the most important ...

and dates from 1915. Gedser was the first place German troops landed during the

occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral. For most of the war, the country was a protectorate and then an occupied territory of Germany. The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 December ...

on April 9, 1940, at 3:55 in the morning. A number of armored cars and infantry troops hid in the ferry from

Warnemünde (, literally ''Mouth of the Warnow'') is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow. is one of the world's busie ...

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

and advanced into the harbor as soon as the ship docked, soon after followed by another ferry.

Government

Until January 1, 2007, Gedser was a parish of the former municipality of

Sydfalster Until 1 January 2007 Sydfalster was a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in the former Storstrøm County on the southern end of the island of Falster in south Denmark. Overview The municipality covered an area of 113 km², and had a total pop ...

(seat :

Væggerløse Væggerløse is a town some south of Nykøbing Falster on the Danish island of Falster. It has large housing developments and until 2006 was the administrative centre for the now defunct Sydfalster Municipality. In January 2022 it had a populati ...

) in

Storstrøm County Storstrøms Amt (English ''Storstrøm County'') is a former county (Danish: ''amt'') on the islands of Zealand (''Sjælland''), Møn, Falster, Lolland and some minor islands in southeast Denmark. The county was formed on 1 April 1970, comprising ...

. In the ''Kommunalreformen'' ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007) that municipality merged with

Nykøbing Falster Nykøbing Falster (; originally named Nykøbing) is a southern Danish city, seat of the Guldborgsund ''kommune''. It belongs to Region Sjælland. The city lies on Falster, connected by the Frederick IX Bridge over the Guldborgsund (''Guldb ...

Nysted Nysted is a town in Guldborgsund Municipality in Region Zealand on the southeastern coast of the island of Lolland in south Denmark. Nysted is located on the southern coast of Lolland, and has a population of 1,292 (1 January 2022).

Nørre Alslev Nørre Alslev () is a town with a population of 2,379 (1 January 2022) ...

Sakskøbing Sakskøbing (), previously spelled Sakskjøbing, is a town with a population of 4,595 (1 January 2022).Stubbekøbing Stubbekøbing () is a town with a population of 2,268 (1 January 2022) ...

to form

Museum

The local museum i
Det Sorte Museum
he Black Museum with elements of local geology, including Baltic amber, and occasional temporary exhibitions, such as dinosaurs.Mateus, O, Andersen E. 1998. Dinosaurrede i Gedser- portugisisk specialitet udstilles i Gedser. GeologiskNyt. 3/98:7.

Geography

Situated in the southernmost part of Denmark on the island of

Falster Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010.

, Gedser is a port town on the

European route E55 European route E55 is an European Route, E-route. It passes through the following cities: Helsingborg … Helsingør – Copenhagen – Køge – Vordingborg – Nykøbing Falster – Gedser … Rostock – Berlin – Lübbenau – Dresden – Te ...

(

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...

) passes through the town. Kirche in Gedser

Gedser Odde Gedser Odde on the island of Falster in the Baltic Sea is Denmark's southernmost point. The terminal moraine from Idestrup through Skelby to Gedser is part of the maximum glaciation line across Falster, from Orehoved to Gedser. Fronted by low cli ...

is the southernmost point in Denmark.

Transportation

A car ferry route has operated from Gedser to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

since 1995, served by

Scandlines Scandlines is a ferry company that operates the Rødby–Puttgarden and Gedser–Rostock ferry routes between Denmark and Germany. Scandlines owns 7 ferries, 6 of which are hybrid ferries, making Scandlines the owner of the world's largest fl ...

. Formerly, there were also train and car ferry routes to

Großenbrode Großenbrode is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the Baltic Sea coast, opposite Fehmarn, approx. 8 km (5 mi) east of Heiligenhafen. Until 1963 it had a ferry connection to G ...

(1951–1963) and

(1903–1995) and a car ferry route to

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Bay of Lübeck, Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, an ...

(1963–1990), all in Germany. A bridge linking Gedser to Rostock was proposed, although a decision was made in 2007 to support a planned fixed link across the

Fehmarn Belt Fehmarn Belt (), (, former spelling ''Femer Bælt''; ) is a strait connecting the Bay of Kiel and the Bay of Mecklenburg in the western part of the Baltic Sea between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland. Ferries oper ...

to the west of Gedser instead.

Photogallery

File:Gedser - udsigt2.JPG, Panorama File:Gedser Kirche.jpg, The church File:Gedser Hauptstraße.jpg, Main street File:Gedser Odde - Sydstenen.JPG,

, southernmost point of Denmark File:Gedser Station.jpg, Railway station File:Gedser Port 2005-09-03.jpg, Ferry terminal

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Region Zealand Port cities and towns in Denmark Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea Falster Denmark–Germany border crossings Guldborgsund Municipality