Until January 1, 2007 Skælskør Municipality was a municipality (

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 ...

: '' kommune'') in the former

West Zealand County West Zealand County ( da, Vestsjællands Amt) is a former counties of Denmark, county (Danish language, Danish: ''Amt (subnational entity), amt'') in the west-central part of the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern De ...

, on the southwestern coast of the island of

Zealand 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 ...

, in eastern

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 ...

. The municipality covered an area of 170.02 km², and had a total population of 11,928 (2006). Its last mayor was Hans Ole Drost, a member of the Venstre. Skælskør Municipality bordered

Korsør Korsør is a town on Zealand, Denmark. It is located in Slagelse Municipality. Until 2007 Korsør was the seat of Korsør Municipality. The town is located west of Slagelse, north-west of Skælskør and connects to Nyborg through the Great Bel ...

and Hashøj Municipality to the north and Fuglebjerg Municipality to the east. The municipality included the islands of

Agersø Agersø is a Danish island in the Great Belt close to Zealand. The island covers an area of 6.84 km2 and has 174 inhabitants (2016). See also * List of Danish islands * Sydhavsøerne Sydhavsøerne ( lit. "The South Sea Islands"), sometime ...

Omø Omø is a Danish island in the Great Belt. The island covers an area of , with a 12-kilometre (7-mile) coastline, and has 168 inhabitants, of which the majority inhabit ''Omø village'', which has a church, and Kirkehavn, a small harbour with a fer ...

and Glænø. To the west is the

Great Belt The Great Belt ( da, Storebælt, ) is a strait between the major islands of Zealand (''Sjælland'') and Funen (''Fyn'') in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits. Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great Be ...

(Danish: ''Storebælt''), the

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...

that separates Zealand and the island of

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

(Danish. ''Fyn''), and the Agersø Sound (Danish: ''Agersø Sund''), the strait that separates Zealand from the former municipality's islands of Agersø and Omø. To the south is Karrebæksminde Bay (Danish: ''Karrebæksminde Bugt'') and Rågø Sund. The municipality's island of Glænø lies in Karrebæksminde Bay, along with a number of other smaller islands. ''Noret'', a large lake lies to the north of the town of Skælskør. The municipality ceased to exist as the result of ''Kommunalreformen 2007'' (the Municipality Reform of 2007). It was merged with

Slagelse Slagelse () is a town on Zealand, Denmark. The town is the seat of Slagelse Municipality, and is the biggest town of the municipality. It is located 15 km east of Korsør, 16 km north-east of Skælskør, 33 km south-east of Kalundborg and 14 km ...

, Hashøj and Korsør municipalities to form a new

Slagelse municipality Slagelse Municipality is a municipality ( Danish: '' kommune'') in Region Zealand on the west coast of the island of Zealand (Danish: ''Sjælland'') in Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 571 km². The municipality borders Kalundborg ...

. The new municipality belongs to

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 ...

History

Skælskør was likely built in the 1100s, and was granted the status of 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 ...

(Danish: ''Købstad'') in 1414. It originally played a role as a transit town between Zealand,

and

Langeland Langeland (, ) is a Danish island located between the Great Belt and Bay of Kiel. The island measures 285 km2 (c. 110 square miles) and, as of 1 January 2018, has a population of 12,446.

, though

eventually became the more prominent transit town on the coast. In the Middle Ages, when Denmark was divided into hundreds, the area of Skælskør Municipality were under Vester Flakkebjerg Hundred and Slagelse Hundred. Vester Flakkebjerg Hundred was under Sorø County when it was established in 1662, while Slagelse Hundred came under Korsør County. Sorø County was merged with Ringsted County in 1748. It was merged again in 1798, this time with Korsør County and Antvorskov County. This county lasted until the

1970 Danish Municipal Reform The 1970 Danish Municipal Reform was an extensive administrative reform in Denmark which on 1 April 1970 reduced the number of Danish municipalities from 1,098 to 277 and the number of counties from 25 to 14. The reform also abolished the last le ...

where it merged with Holbæk County to create

(Danish: ''Vestsjællands Amt''). After the 2007 municipal reform this changed to

. From 1842, where parish municipalities were created, and until 1922 the area of Skælskør Municipality consisted of nine parish municipalities. From 1875 it also consisted of Skælskør Market Town Municipality, which would merge with its Rural District Parish Municipality in 1922, leaving eight parish municipalities and one market town municipality. In 1966 many of these parish municipalities were merged to create only two parish municipalities, which would again be merged to form Skælskør Municipality in the 1970 Municipal Reform. In the Municipality Reform of 2007 Skælskør Municipality was merged with Hashøj, Slagelse and Korsør Municipality to form a new Slagelse Municipality.

Historical divisions

Mayors

Since the creation of the municipality in 1970 and until it was dissolved in 2007, the mayors of Skælskør Municipality were:

Towns

Skaelskor, channel between Noret and Inderfjord 2015-07-30

The largest town in the municipality was Skælskør, where more than half of the municipality's population lived. Nearly a third of the population lived in rural areas. The remaining population lived in the towns of Bisserup, Boeslunde, Eggeslevmagle and Rude. Notable smaller villages in the municipality included the main settlements on Agersø and Omø: Agersø By and Omø By. Skælskør was located in the western part of the municipality, bordering ''Skælskør Nor'', giving it access to the sea. In the town is a church from the 1200s. It is named Saint Nicholas Church (Danish: ''Sankt Nicolai Kirke'') and is located centrally in the town. One of the largest breweries in Denmark,

Harboe's Brewery Harboe's Brewery ( da, Harboes Bryggeri A/S) is a Danish brewery located in Skælskør, Denmark which was established in 1883. Harboes is an international beverage manufacturer with production facilities in three countries and business activities ...

, has been located in Skælskør since its foundation in 1883. Below are the populations from 2006 of the five larger settlements of the municipality.Statistikbanken.dk
"BEF44: Folketal 1. januar efter byområder, landdistrikter (AFSLUTTET)" Retrieved 6 October 2020

Politics

Municipal council

Below are the municipal council elected from the municipality's creation in 1970 and until 2001, which was the last election before the municipality was dissolved.

Parishes

The municipality consisted of eleven parishes and eleven churches. * Agersø Parish ( Agersø Church) * Boeslunde Parish ( Boeslunde Church) * Eggeslevmagle Parish ( Eggeslevmagle Church) * Holsteinborg Parish ( Holsteinborg Church) * Magleby Parish ( Magleby Church) * Omø Parish ( Omø Church) * Skælskør Parish ( Saint Nicholas Church) * Sønder Bjerge Parish ( Sønder Bjerge Church) * Tjæreby Parish ( Tjæreby Church) * Venslev Parish ( Venslev Church) * Ørslev Parish ( Ørslev Church)

Symbols

The municipality's coat of arms is the same as the town of Skælskør's. It shows a bridge connecting the two parts of the town of Skælskør. The church is located to the left, illustrated with crosses. The city hall is on the right. They stand on green grass with a river running across the land and through the town, under the bridge. In the river is an escallop, which is in reference to the origin of the town's name "''Skælfisk-ør''" translating to ''shellfish beach''. The sky is dark blue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skaelskor Municipality Former municipalities of Denmark