Thurø is a small

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 ance ...

island in the south-east 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 ...

and belongs to the Svendborg municipality. Thurø is part of the South Funen Archipelago, comprising c. 55 islands altogether. The island had 3,555 inhabitants . Connected to Svendborg proper by a small bridge, Thurø has become a popular place to live due to its quiet streets and proximity to both Svendborg and the new motorway to Odense. Thurø is also a holiday destination, with two popular sandy beaches, three campsites and a number of houses for rent. The sea around horseshoe-shaped Thurø is considered fine fishing-water, particularly for trout. There are several small harbours around the island and ''Thurøbund'' - the inner part of the horseshoe - is a well-known safe nature-harbour used by the sailing fraternity. The entire island is served by a direct bus link to Svendborg city centre, from where onward routes cover the Funen region.

History

According to legend, and as told in Saxo's Gesta Danorum (chronicles of the Danes), as well as in the Scylding

Sagas is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the Play ...

, Helge (brother to Hroar, both known from the

Beowolf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

poems) once came by this island on one of his raiding expeditions. Here, he came to the house of the elf-woman Thora ( Thurø meaning literally Thora's island -or in some legends

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

's Island), whom he raped. When he returned to the island years later, Thora sent out their daughter, Yrsa, to greet him, as revenge. He raped Yrsa, not knowing it was his own daughter, and she then had his son,

Rolf Kraka Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. ...

, who would go on and become one of Denmark's greatest and most legendary kings. Denmark's oldest "pacifier-tree" has been located on Thurø for 85 years. Part of Danish tradition is for children to "sacrifice" their pacifiers (dummies) at a local tree to mark their passage from infancy to childhood.

Notable people

Karin Michaëlis Karin Michaëlis (20 March 1872 – 11 January 1950) was a Denmark, Danish journalist and author. She is best known for her novels, short stories, and children's books. Over the course of 50 years, Karin Michaëlis wrote more than 50 books in Dan ...

(1872-1950) a Danish journalist and author; from 1933 she took in German emigrants at her property in Thurø, including

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

and

Marlene Norst Marlene Johanna Norst (24 March 193020 December 2010) was an Australian linguist, pedagogue and philanthropist of Austrian heritage. Her main areas of work were German language and literature studies, language pedagogy, English as a second la ...

; she is buried in Thurø cemetery *

Laura Brun-Pedersen Laura Oline Hedvig Brun-Pedersen (19 July 1883 – 7 March 1961) was a Danish painter. Born in Copenhagen, she studied art at the painting schools of Ernst Goldschmidt (1917–18) and Harald Giersing (1919-20). She painted deeply coloured landscap ...

(1883–1961) a Danish painter of deeply coloured landscapes with human figures and animals; she lived on Thurø for 30 years *

Tom Kristensen Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...

(1893 in London – 1974 in Thurø) was a Danish poet, novelist, literary critic and journalist *

Jan Pytlick Jan Pytlick (born 5 June 1967) is a Danish handball coach, and trains Saudi Arabia national team. He was head coach for the Danish women's national handball team from 1998 to 2006, and again from 2007 to 2014. Pytlick has led the women's nation ...

(born 1967 in Thurø) a Danish handball coach. He was head coach for the Danish women's national handball team 1998-2006 and 2007-2014

References

Sources

Den lille Svendborgguide
Guide to Svendborg and surroundings

External links

Islands of Denmark Geography of Funen Geography of Svendborg Municipality {{SouthernDK-stub