Kibæk is a town in

Herning Municipality Herning Municipality is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in western Denmark. The municipality covers an area of and has a population of 89,230 (1 January 2022). Its mayor is Dorte West, a member ...

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 ...

with a population of 2,638 (1 January 2023).BY3: Population 1. January by rural and urban areas, area and population density
The Mobile Statbank from

Statistics Denmark Statistics Denmark ( da, Danmarks Statistik) is a Danish governmental organization under the Ministry of the Interior and Housing and which reports to the Minister of Economic and Internal Affairs. The organization is responsible for creating st ...

It was founded because of the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

. This small provincial town consists of two streets with shops, and it is surrounded by a lovely and fertile nature with moor, forest and streams. Nearest major town is Herning. Kibæk was the administrative center in

Aaskov Municipality Until 1 January 2007 Aaskov Municipality was a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Ringkøbing County on the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 239 km2, and had a total population of 6,999 (2005). Its ...

in between 1970 and 2006.

Etymology

The oldest known source for the name Kibæk is from 1466, where the form ''Kybeck'' appears. Later evidence includes forms such as ''Kibeck'' (1638) and ''Kibek'' (1797). The meaning of the first part is disputed, but it is possibly an

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 ...

noun ''kwī'', which means 'cattle fold'. However, it could also represent a well-known, old coincidence between words of ''twi''- and ''kwi''-, which refer to something twofold. The second part of the name (''bæk'') means

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

. The name may thus mean either "the stream by the cattle fold" or "the two-part stream".

History

The stream, which runs through Kibæk, created the basis for a watermill established sometime in the early 1400s, which until the end of the 19th century was the most important building in the area. With the construction of the railway between Herning and Skjern in 1881, Kibæk became home to a station, which created the basis for a large population growth in the following decades. Thus, at the 1901 census, 248 inhabitants were registered, and the town now had three merchants, a manufactory, an innkeeper, a lumber merchant, a physician, and a number of artisans. However, Kibæk also still had a number of farmers and homesteaders. There were also mission houses from 1889 and assembly houses from 1894. In the 1910s, the town also got a school, power station and pharmacy. Kibæk continued its growth in the following decades. There were 479 inhabitants in 1925, 720 in 1955 and 1,279 in 1970. This development meant that Kibæk, which until the end of the 19th century had only been a secondary settlement in , accommodated more than half of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

's population. Kibæk also became the home of Assing Sogn's municipal office in 1958. The town received a nursing home in 1929, a library in 1937, a central school in 1958 and a retirement home in 1963. In addition, there were recreational facilities and sports fields. Between the 1920s and 1960s, the business community expanded with i.a. cooperative dairy, cement goods factory and several knitwear and furniture factories.

Notable people

* David Huda (born ca. 1898 in Safed, Palestine - 1982 in Denmark), author, school teacher, member of the Danish resistance during WW II, maternal grandfather of Peter H. Fogtdal. *

Kristian Bach Bak Kristian Bach Bak (né Bak Nielsen; born 20 October 1982) is a Danish former professional footballer. Bak usually played centre-back, but he has a past as a striker. He has played one game for the Danish under-21 national team. Club career Mi ...

(born 1982 in Kibæk) a retired Danish professional footballer, 332 club caps *

Mai Villadsen Mai Minna Villadsen (born 26 December 1991) is a Danish politician who is a member of the Folketing and the political spokesperson of the Red–Green Alliance. Villadsen has been a member of the Folketing since the 2019 Danish general election. E ...

(born 1991) political spokesperson for the

Red–Green Alliance In politics, a red–green alliance or red–green coalition is an alliance of "red" (often social-democratic or democratic socialist) parties with "green" (often green and/or occasionally agrarian) parties. The alliance is often based on commo ...

, grew up in Kibæk and attended Kibæk School *

Niklas Eg Niklas Eg (born 6 January 1995) is a Danish former cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2016 to 2023. Career Eg was born in Kibæk. Trek–Segafredo (2018–2021) After signing an initial two-year contract with the team in September 2017 ...

(born 1995 in Kibæk) a Danish cyclist

References

Cities and towns in the Central Denmark Region Herning Municipality {{CentralDK-stub