Vester Allé 12 is a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

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 ...

, Denmark. The building was completed in 1902 and was listed by the

Danish Heritage Agency The Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces ( da, Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen) is an agency under the aegis of the Danish Ministry of Culture. The agency carries out the cultural policies of the Danish government within the visual and performing arts, ...

in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places on 5 April 1988. The building is situated on the west side of ''Vester Allé'' close by Vester Allé Barracks and ARoS Aarhus Art Museum. The building has been home to some of the earliest cultural institutions in the city. Colloquially the building is known as ''Smykkeskrinet'' (The Jewel Box) for its distinctive shape or as ''Erhvervsarkivet'' (The Business Archive) for its long tenure as the home of the

Danish National Business Archives , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = , logo_width = 300px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = File:Rigsarkivet.jpg , picture_width = , picture_cap ...

History

Vester Allé 12 was constructed between 1898 and 1902 as the home of the newly established

State Library A national library is established by the government of a nation to serve as the pre-eminent repository of information for that country. Unlike public libraries, they rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuab ...

. In 1928

Aarhus University Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

was established and the State Library became the official library of the new university and was renamed the State and University Library. The added functions meant there was insufficient space for storage and the library functions became scattered to a number of locations. In 1963 the library moved to the new building '' Bogtårnet'' (The Book Tower) designed by C.F. Møller on the

campus. When the State and University Library vacated the building it was taken over by the Business Archives (later the Danish National Business Archive). The business archive had been established by the city in 1946 as an independent historical institution focused on historical documents related to commerce, business and economy. The Business Archive was taken over by the

Danish State Archives , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = , logo_width = 300px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = File:Rigsarkivet.jpg , picture_width = , picture_cap ...

in 1968. The archive has functioned in a double role as both the national archive of business records and the local archive of the city of Aarhus since then. In 2011 Aarhus City Council had established the Aarhus City Archives with the goal of preserving local history and it moved into Vester Allé 12 which it shared with the Business Archive in close cooperation. In late 2015 the Business Archive was moved to Viborg due to a desire to centralize operations. The local historical records was left to the Aarhus City Archives.

Aarhus City Archives

''Aarhus Stadsarkiv'' (Aarhus City Archives) is the local historical archive for the city of

and the administrative body for all the local archives in

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality ( da, Aarhus Kommune), known as Århus Municipality ( da, Århus Kommune) until 2011, is a municipality in Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area ...

. The archives were established in 2011 but operates under a set of regulations adopted in 2013 by the Aarhus City Council. The city archives primarily collect print or digital documents and data on municipal institutions but also material from individuals, organizations and companies based in the municipality. The City Archives has the position of chairman of the internal municipal archival committee and advice municipal institutions on the use of information technology. The archives is active in cultural cooperation between local archives, museums, educational institutions and municipal administration. The purpose of the archives is to ensure the history of the city can be documented fully and unbiased.

Architecture

The building was designed by architect

Hack Kampmann Hack Kampmann (6 September 1856 – 27 June 1920) was a Danish architect, Royal Inspector of Listed State Buildings in Jutland and professor at the architecture department of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Marselisborg Palace in Aarhus, ...

and was constructed between 1898 and 1902. It is prominently situated on a hill overlooking

Aarhus River Aarhus River ( da, Århus Å) is a long river or stream, in eastern Jutland, Denmark. The river flows through the large river valley of Aarhus Ådal. The valley itself, stretches from Silkeborg to the coastal city of Aarhus, but the Aarhus River ...

. The building is in

National Romantic Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

and

historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...

style, constructed from red bricks of lime and sandstone with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

and a

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

. It is adorned with many different types of

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

, bands and inscriptions. Above the front entrance is a relief showing a woman watering the Tree of Knowledge and along the eaves is a series of owls, symbolizing erudition and knowledge. The interior features designs by sculptor

Karl Hansen Reistrup Frederik Karl Kristian Hansen Reistrup (22 April 1863 – 18 March 1929) was a Danish sculptor, illustrator and ceramist. Reistrup is remembered for his important contribution to ceramics in particular for the ceramics he produced for Herman A. ...

who also contributed to

Aarhus Theatre The Aarhus Theatre (Danish: ''Aarhus Teater'') in Aarhus, is the largest provincial theatre in Denmark. The present theatre house was constructed in the late 19th century, as a replacement for the old theatre, nicknamed "''Svedekassen''" (The Swe ...

. ErhvervsarkivetS.JPG, A raised terrace Erhvervsarkivet (Vester Allé).jpg Erhvervsarkivet.jpg Erhvervsarkivet2.jpg Erhvervsarkivet4.jpg Erhvervsarkivet-Læsesalen.jpg, The library Erhvervsarkivet-store-sal.jpg, Reading hall

References

External links

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Aarhus City Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vester Alle 12 Listed buildings in Aarhus Houses completed in 1902 National Romantic architecture in Aarhus Hack Kampmann buildings Art Nouveau government buildings