Horsens () is a city on the east coast of Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 61,074 (1 January 2022) and the municipality's population is 94,443 (), making it the 8th largest city in Denmark. Horsens is best known for its culture and entertainment events. Horsens New Theatre is a cultural centre which holds over 200 events annually. It has managed to draw major names such as Bob Dylan,

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, One Direction, Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones. __TOC__

Geography

Horsens lies at the end of

Horsens Fjord Horsens Fjord is an East Jutland-type fjord in the east coast of the Danish peninsula of Jutland which stretches from the islands of Alrø and Hjarnø in the east to the town of Horsens on the mainland. It is some long. The navigational channe ...

in eastern Jutland. The city is surrounded by typical

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

landscape with low hills and valleys created by glaciers during the last ice ages. Horsens is south 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. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

and north of Vejle, and approximately from Copenhagen.

History

It is believed the name Horsens derives from the

old Danish The Danish language developed during the Middle Ages out of Old East Norse, the common predecessor of Danish and Swedish. It was a late form of common Old Norse. The Danish philologist Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen divided the history of Danish into ...

words ''hors'' (horse) and ''næs'' (naze, headland). The name ''Horsens'' has been in use since the 12th century. The earliest traces of a city are remains of a pagan burial site and houses dating back to the 10th century. In the 12th century, the kings Sweyn III and Valdemar I issued coins in the city. In the 13th century the city got its own legal code. Excavations have shown that the city was expanded around 1300, with a moat going around the city and its harbour. Industrialization started from the middle of the 19th century. The population rose dramatically when people from the countryside moved to the city to work in the factories. The first Danish iron foundry outside of Copenhagen was opened as well as tobacco and textile factories.

Economy

The city is currently undergoing a positive development with new industry moving to Horsens, or expanding their activities already in Horsens. A lot of electronics and graphical companies are based there. Horsens also has the only Industrial Museum in Denmark. The city is also home to VIA University College which brings a lot of international students to move to this town.

Culture

In recent years, much effort has been made to expand and improve cultural events. Several internationally known artists, such as

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, Iron Maiden,

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan,

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer * Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in ...

, Bryan Adams, David Bowie,

José Carreras Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Spanish operatic tenor who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, he made his de ...

, Helmut Lotti, Westlife, R.E.M., Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, The Rolling Stones, Dolly Parton,

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

, U2, Rammstein and

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland. They consist of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), Paul Wilson (musician), Paul Wilson (bass guitar, ...

have performed, or have performances planned in Horsens.

has performed several times in Horsens. Hard Rock/Heavy Metal band Pretty Maids is from Horsens. One of the largest cultural events in Denmark is the annual European Medieval Festival on the last Friday and Saturday in August. The town centre of Horsens is transformed into the largest medieval market town in Northern Europe with activities and entertainment for families and children of all ages. European Medieval Festival Horsens 1997

Every March, Horsens hosts a Crime Fiction Festival. The ''Crime Festival'' – in Danish called ''Krimimessen'' – is an event for literary crime, mysteries and thrillers. The Crime Festival is organized by Horsens Public Library. Every year, many well-known crime writers visit Horsens. The city is home to ''Horsens Industrimuseum'', a museum showing the history of the industrial society. The museum shows technological development and developments in living conditions for workers. European route E45 runs by the city of Horsens. Peter Sørensen from the Social Democrats is mayor of Horsens. Vitus Bering, the famous Russian Navy captain, was born here.

Education

The largest educational institution in Horsens is VIA University College, which offers a wide range of engineering, technical and business programmes for Danish and International students. In the summer of 2020, VIA University College accepted 1066 new students. That was 2.1% more than the number of students that were accepted to the university the year before.

Sport

Horsens is the home to professional football club AC Horsens who play in the Danish Superliga. Their home ground is the 10,400 capacity CASA Arena Horsens. In 2015, the CASA Arena will host

Motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

when it holds the

Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark The Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark is a speedway event that is a part of the Speedway Grand Prix Series. The event was first held at the Vojens Speedway Center from 1995 to 2002 before switching to the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen from 2003 to 201 ...

for the first time, taking over as host from the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen which had held the Speedway Grand Prix event from 2003 to 2014. Horsens is also home to professional basketball team

Horsens IC Horsens Idræts Club Basketball, commonly known as Horsens IC or Horsens, is a professional basketball team based in Horsens, Denmark. The club plays at the Forum Horsens, which can accommodate 4,000 people. The team holds six titles in the Bask ...

who play in Basketligaen. The team plays at

Forum Horsens Forum Horsens is an indoor sports arena and music venue in Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 61,074 (1 January 2022) and the municipa ...

which has a capacity of 3,300. The team has won the league 6 times most recently in 2014–15 and 2015–16 as well as winning the

Danish Men's Basketball Cup The Danish Men's Basketball Cup is the annual basketball cup competition held in Denmark for professional men's teams. The first season of the competition was played in 1975. Bakken Bears Bakken Bears is a Danish professional basketball club b ...

3 times most recently in the 2014–15 season.

Transportation

Rail

Horsens is served by

Horsens railway station Horsens railway station ( da, Horsens Station or ''Horsens Banegård'') is a railway station serving the town of Horsens in East Jutland metropolitan area, East Jutland, Denmark. The station is located on the Fredericia-Aarhus railway line from Fr ...

. It is located on the Fredericia-Aarhus railway line and offers direct InterCity services to Copenhagen, Hamburg,

and

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...

as well as regional train services to Fredericia and

Prison

From 1853 to 2006 the city housed the

Horsens Statsfængsel Horsens Statsfængsel (Horsens State Prison), formerly called Horsens Straffeanstalt (Horsens Correctional Institution), is a former prison in Horsens, Denmark. Today it is a crime and prison museum under the name Horsens Prison Museum (Fængsel ...

prison, which held prisoners serving longer sentences. A notable prisoner was former minister of justice

Peter Adler Alberti Peter Adler Alberti (10 June 1851, in Copenhagen – 14 June 1932, in Copenhagen) was a Danish politician and swindler, known for the Alberti scandal of 1908. Family life On 6 October 1876 in the Church of Holmen the 25-year-old barrister (ove ...

. The last execution in peacetime in Denmark happened in the prison in 1892 when Jens Nielsen was decapitated in the courtyard. Carl August Lorentzen was a safe cracker who became famous for his escape from the prison in 1949 when he dug a tunnel from his cell and out to freedom. When the guards discovered he was missing they found a note from him with the words "Where there is a will there is a way". Lorentzen was captured a few days later on a nearby farm. The old run-down buildings were not fit for a modern prison. In 2006 the prison was closed and the newly built

State Prison of East Jutland Enner Mark Prison (Danish: Enner Mark Fængsel), until February 2016 the State Prison of East Jutland (Danish: Statsfængslet Østjylland), is a modern and purpose-built closed prison in Denmark. It is the first since the establishment of the Stat ...

was opened. The new prison, which is placed near Horsens, held the mass murderer Peter Lundin for a period. Since its closure as a prison, Horsens Statsfængsel has housed a crime and

prison museum Museums have been created from many former jails and prisons. Some old jails converted into museums are listed under the original name of the jail, especially if listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. For example, see Old St. J ...

, and conference and business facilities. The prison grounds have been used for concerts. It was considered as the venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, along with two other cities in Denmark. VisitHorsens (the local tourist office) moved to the Prison in 2013 and in 2015 a hotel called SleepIn has opened in the Prison.

Notable people from Horsens

Public thinking and politics

Peder Skram Peder Skram (died 11 July 1581) was a Danish Admiral and naval hero. Biography Skram born between 1491 and 1503, on his father's estate at Urup near Horsens in Jutland, Denmark. He participated in military service during the Swedish War of L ...

(ca.1500-1581) a Danish Admiral and naval hero. *

Jens Bang Jens Bang (c. 1575 - 20 February 1644) was a wealthy Danish merchant. Biography Born in Horsens, he was the son of merchant Oluf Bang. His older half-brother was the mayor, Jørgen Olufsen. Bang arrived in Aalborg at the age of 22 where he was a ...

(ca.1575–1644) a wealthy Danish merchant, built

Jens Bang's House Jens Bang's House ( da, Jens Bangs Stenhus; translated, "Jens Bang's Stone House") is a landmark in Aalborg, Denmark. Situated on Østerågade in Nytorv square, it was built in 1624 by Jens Bang in Dutch Renaissance style. Noted for its gables ...

in Aalborg * Hans Svane (1606–1668) a Danish statesman and ecclesiastic. * Vitus Bering (1681–1741), naval officer and explorer, the Bering Strait was named after him. *

Poul Vendelbo Løvenørn Poul Thomsen Vendelbo de Løvenørn, born Poul Thomsen (5 April 1686 – 27 February 1740) was a Danish military officer, diplomat and landowner. He served as Secretary of War and Minister of the Navy in the 1730s and was the owner of Bregentved ...

(1686–1740) a Danish military officer, diplomat and landowner * Ove Høegh-Guldberg (1731–1808) statesman and ''de facto'' Prime Minister of Denmark *

Catherine Antonovna of Brunswick Catherine Antonovna of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1741–1807) was the daughter of Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick and Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna of Russia and sister of Ivan VI of Russia, Ivan VI. She was imprisoned by Empress Elizabeth of Russ ...

(1741–1807) &

Elizabeth Antonovna of Brunswick Elizabeth Antonovna of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1743–1782) was the daughter of Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick and Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna of Russia. Born after the deposition of her brother Ivan VI of Russia, Ivan VI, she was kept imprison ...

(1743–1782) daughters of

Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick Anthony Ulrich (; 28 August 1714, Bevern – 4 May 1774 (O.S.), Kholmogory), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was Generalissimo of the Army of Russia, and the husband of Anna Leopoldovna, who reigned as regent of Russia for one year. Biograph ...

lived under house arrest in Horsens *

Adelbert Heinrich Graf von Baudissin Adelbert Heinrich Graf von Baudissin (born 25 January 1820 in Horsens, Jutland, died 28 March 1871 in Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus ap ...

(1820-1871), writer * Hedevig Rosing (1827–1913), author, educator, school founder; first woman to teach in Copenhagen's public schools *

Andreas Bang-Haas Andreas Bang-Haas (6 December 1846 – 7 February 1925) was a Danish entomologist and insect dealer. Bang-Haas was born in Horsens. In 1879 he entered into the business of the insect dealer Otto Staudinger. He married Staudinger's daughter ...

(1846–1925) a Danish

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

and insect dealer *

Hans G. Jensen Hans G. Jensen (13 March 1856 – 7 September 1922) was a Norwegian trade unionist, politician, and tailor. Jensen was born in Horsens, Denmark in 1856. He moved to Sandefjord, Norway in 1879, before settling in Kristiania in 1883. He became i ...

(1856–1922) a Norwegian trade unionist, politician and tailor *

Ellen Broe Ellen Johanne Broe (1900–1994) was a Danish nurse who spent several decades working and seeking education abroad before returning to Denmark and helping to establish educational and training initiatives in Denmark. She helped draft minimum ...

(1900–1994) a Danish nurse who established educational and training initiatives *

Lilli Gyldenkilde Lilli Helletofte Gyldenkilde (13 February 1936 – 8 August 2003) was a Danish politician who served as a member of the Folketing and a Member of the European Parliament. Born in Horsens, Gyldenkilde was raised by her grandparents. She attended sch ...

(1936–2003) a Danish politician, a member of the Folketing and an

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

* Lars Hedegaard (born 1942) a Danish historian, journalist and author * Peter Landrock (born 1948) a Danish cryptographer and mathematician * Jens Kehlet Nørskov (born 1952), professor * Flemming Besenbacher (born 1952), professor * Jan Trøjborg (1955–2012), politician, Mayor of Horsens 2005–2012, served in the Folketing 1987–2005, was Govt. Minister * Jens Nielsen (born 1962), professor *

Anders Samuelsen Anders Samuelsen (born 1 August 1967 in Horsens, Denmark) is a Danish former politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2019, member of the Folketing from 2007 to 2011 and as leader of the Liberal Alliance party from 20 ...

(born 1967) a Danish politician and Minister of Foreign Affairs (Denmark) * Peter Fibiger Bang (born 1973) a Danish comparative historian

The Arts

Anton Dorph Anton Laurids Johannes Dorph (15 February 1831, Horsens – 12 January 1914, Copenhagen) was a Danish painter who is remembered for his altarpieces and his paintings of fishermen. Biography Dorph entered the Danish Academy in 1845 where he studi ...

(1831–1914) a Danish painter who painted altarpieces and fishermen * Frederikke Federspiel (1839–1913) first female pro photographer, ran a photo. studio in

* Ludovica Thornam (1853–1896) a Danish portrait and genre painter * Alfred Schmidt (artist), Alfred Schmidt (1858–1938) a Danish illustrator, caricaturist and painter * Anton Rosen (1859–1928) a Danish architect, furniture designer and decorative artist * Albert Edvard Wang (1864-1930) a Danish landscape painter * Anna Bloch (1868–1953) a Danish actress * Emanuel Gregers (1881–1957) a Danish actor, screenwriter and film director * Christian Arhoff (1893–1973) a Danish stage and film actor and member of National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark * Knud Holmboe (1902–1931) a Danish journalist, author and explorer * Vagn Holmboe (1909–1996), a Danish composer and teacher who wrote in a Neoclassicism (music), neo-classical style * Poul Borum (1934–1996) writer, poet and critic, was raised in Horsens * Manon Rasmussen (born 1951) a Danish costume designer * Kristian Halken (born 1955), film actor * Søren Sætter-Lassen (born 1955) a Danish stage, film and television actor * Michael Kvium (born 1955) a Danish multifaceted artist * Anne Louise Hassing (born 1967), actress * Emmy Thornam (1852–1935), flower painter and writer * Ludovica Thornam (1853–1896), portrait and genre painter * Barbara Zatler (1980-2019) an actress, TV personality, model and comedian IMDb Database
retrieved 01 June 2020 * Pretty Maids (formed 1981) a Danish hard rock/heavy metal band from Horsens * Peter Bjørnskov (born 1981) a Danish singer, songwriter and record producer

Sport

* Ernst Schultz (1879 – drowned, 1906) sprinter, bronze medallist at the 1900 Summer Olympics * Thyge Petersen (1902–1964) an amateur boxer, silver medallist at the 1924 Summer Olympics * Helge Muxoll Schrøder (1924–2012) rower, team silver medallist at the 1948 Summer Olympics * Bent Schmidt-Hansen (1946–2013) a footballer, over 350 club caps and 8 for Denmark national football team, Denmark * Anja Hansen (born 1973) handball player, team gold medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics * Anne Dot Eggers Nielsen (born 1975) a former footballer, won 118 caps for the Denmark women's national football team, Danish national women's team * Søren Jochumsen (born 1976) a retired football goalkeeper, 521 caps with AC Horsens * Brian Priske (born 1977) retired footballer, 468 club caps and 24 for Denmark national football team, Denmark * Karen Brødsgaard (born 1978) a Danish former handball player, twice team gold medallist at the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics * Simon Kjær (born 1989), footballer over 390 club caps and captain of Denmark national football team, Denmark with 95 caps * Anne-Marie Rindom (born 1991) a Danish sailor, gold medallist at the 2020 Summer Olympics * Alexandra Bøje (born 1999) a Danish badminton player * Jeppe Kjær (footballer, born 2004), Jeppe Kjær (born 2004) a danish footballer who plays in Ajax

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Horsens is Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with:

Geography

History

Economy

Culture

Education

Sport

Transportation

Rail

Prison

Notable people from Horsens

Public thinking and politics

The Arts

Sport

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

See also

References

External links