Viborg (), a city in central

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

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 ...

, is the capital of both

Viborg municipality Viborg municipality is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 1,421.04 km2, and has a population of 94,622 (1 April 2014). Søren Pape Pou ...

and

Region Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

. Viborg is also the seat of the Western High Court, the High Court for the

peninsula. Viborg Municipality is the second-largest

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 ...

municipality, covering 3.3% of the country's total land area.

History

Viborg is one of the oldest cities in Denmark, with

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

settlements dating back to the late 8th century. Its central location gave the city great strategic importance, in political and religious matters, during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. A

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

-type castle was once located in the city. Viborg's name is a combination of two Old Norse words: '' vé'', meaning a holy place, and ''borg'', meaning a fort, but the original name of the town was ''Vvibiærgh'', where ''-biærgh'' means hill (modern Danish ''-bjerg'' (mountain).

Sights

Viborg is famous for

Viborg Cathedral , image = Viborg Cathedral June 2012.jpg , imagesize = 250px , caption = , pushpin map = Denmark , pushpin label position = , pushpin map alt = , pushpin mapsize = , ...

. The construction of the cathedral started in 1130 and took about 50 years. The building has burned to the ground and been re-built several times. Only the

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

of the original cathedral is still preserved. The cathedral was and is the locus of cult of

Saint Kjeld of Viborg Kjeld or Ketil ( la, Chetillus, Ketillus, da, Keld, Kjeld, Ketil; 1100–1150) was a 12th-century Danish clergyman. He is venerated as a saint in Denmark, by both Catholics and Danish Lutherans. Life Kjeld was born in the early 12th century ...

who was dean of the cathedral chapter there and had a great shrine there in the Middle Ages. The newest parts of the church are from a restoration between 1864 and 1876. The cathedral is famous for its many paintings by Danish painter

Joakim Skovgaard Joakim Frederik Skovgaard (18 November 1856 – 9 March 1933) was a Danish painter. He is remembered above all for the frescos which decorate Viborg Cathedral. Biography Born in Copenhagen, from an early age he was trained in drawing and paintin ...

, which depict stories from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. Next to the cathedral is the Skovgaard museum, founded in 1937. Before the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Viborg was the home of five

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, about 12 parish churches, several chapels and of course the cathedral. The Black Friars' church dates from the 13th century. Today only the cathedral and a few remains of the Franciscan and the Dominican monasteries are left.

Sports

Since the 1990s, Viborg has had a reputation as one of Denmark's leading cities for

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

. It started with

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

, a popular sport in Denmark, when the women's handball team became one of best five clubs in Europe, and continued when both the men's handball team and the professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team established themselves in their respective domestic leagues. From 1998 to 2008,

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening ("Viborg Footsport Association"), or Viborg F.F. and VFF for short, is a Danish professional football club based in Viborg. The club was founded in 1896 and waited more than a century before winning its only national ...

was a member of the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

, reaching an all-time high by winning the

Danish cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Viborg hosts the annual Haervejsmarchen international two-day walking festival, which regularly attracts 8,000 participants, including many from outside Denmark. It includes marked routes of distances of up to 45 kilometres a day. The walk is affiliated to the

IML Walking Association The IML Walking Association, until 2006 the International Marching League (IML), is a non-profit organization which promotes recreational walking in the form of international non-competitive multi-day walking events ("marches") in its member count ...

Education

Viborg is home to a number of

educational institutions An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education, including preschools, childcare, primary-elementary schools, secondary-high schools, and universities. They provide a large variety of learning environments an ...

, including Viborg Katedralskole (

cathedral school Cathedral schools began in the Early Middle Ages as centers of advanced education, some of them ultimately evolving into medieval universities. Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools. Some of these e ...

). Denmark's oldest

educational institution An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education, including preschools, childcare, primary-elementary schools, secondary-high schools, and universities. They provide a large variety of learning environments an ...

celebrated its 900th birthday in 2000. The school is believed to have been founded about 1060, at the same time as the city became the seat of a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. The

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

needed to educate boys and young men to enter into the church's service, and to that purpose it created a school. Its current monumental home was built in 1926 to accommodate a larger number of students and later the school added a

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

to house the many students from outer regions or islands not close to a gymnasium. Although this role is now basically obsolete, the dorm continues to be a popular solution for many students wanting to get away from home or for a small number of students from

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

. Viborg Katedralskole is today one of four gymnasiums in Viborg. Viborg is also home to The Animation Workshop, an art school based in a former army barracks on the outskirts of town. The school, which achieved official recognition from the Danish government in 2003, offers students a Bachelor of Arts in character animation. For international parents Viborg also has a
international school
where all teaching is in English based on the Cambridge International examinations.

Transportation

Rail

Viborg is served by Viborg railway station. It is located on the Langå-Struer railway line and offers direct

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

services to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and Struer and

regional train Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster servi ...

services to

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 Struer.

Notable people

Public service and thinking

Saint Kjeld Kjeld or Ketil ( la, Chetillus, Ketillus, da, Keld, Kjeld, Ketil; 1100–1150) was a 12th-century Danish clergyman. He is venerated as a saint in Denmark, by both Catholics and Danish Lutherans. Life Kjeld was born in the early 12th century ...

(died 1150), Archdeacon, canonized 1188 * Biskop Gunner, (Danish Wiki) (1152–1251), Bishop, co-writer of the Law of Jutland * Knud Mikkelsen, (Danish wiki) (1421-1478/1488), Bishop, contributor to the Law of Jutland *

Niels Kaas Niels Kaas (1535 – 29 June 1594) was a Danish politician who served as Chancellor of Denmark from 1573 until his death. He was influential in the negotiation of the Treaty of Stettin (1570), Peace of Stettin and in the upbringing of Christian ...

(1535 in Stårupgård –1594) politician,

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of Denmark 1573-1594 *

Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in ...

(1617–1675) poet, historian and Supreme Court justice *

Carl Gottlob Rafn Carl Gottlob Rafn (31 July 1769 – 17 May 1808) was a Danish Enlightenment scientist and civil servant. He wrote influential papers on a broad array of basic and applied sciences. Life Rafn was born in Viborg, Denmark as the son of a judge. H ...

(1769–1808) enlightenment scientist and civil servant * Sophie Zahrtmann (1841 in Vammen1925)

deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is, in modern times, a usually non-ordained ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a limited ...

and nurse *

Hans Christian Cornelius Mortensen Hans Christian Cornelius Mortensen (27 August 1856 – 7 June 1921) was a Danish teacher and ornithologist. He was the first to employ bird ringing for scientific purposes. Mortensen was born in Jonstrup on the island of Zealand, Denmark. A ...

(1856–1921), ornithologist, taught in Viborg *

Bertel Dahlgaard Bertel Dahlgaard (7 November 1887 – 31 March 1972), was a Danish politician, member of Folketinget The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral natio ...

(1887–1972) politician and statistician * Kåre Pugerup (born 1964) diplomat and Chief of Staff at the UN agency

IFAD The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD; french: link=no, Fonds international de développement agricole (FIDA)) is an international financial institution and a specialised agency of the United Nations that works to address ...

in Rome * Torsten Nielsen (born 1967 in Sparkær) politician, Mayor of

Viborg Municipality Viborg municipality is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 1,421.04 km2, and has a population of 94,622 (1 April 2014). Søren Pape Pou ...

since 2014 * Anders Primdahl Vistisen (born 1987 in Vridsted)

DPP DPP may stand for: Business *Digital Production Partnership, of UK public service broadcasters * Direct Participation Program, a financial security * Discounted payback period Photography * Digital Photo Professional, Canon software Law en ...

politician and MEP

Arts

* Christen Aagaard (1616—1664) poet, academic and theologian * Carl Deichman (1705–1780) Norwegian mine operator, book collector and philanthropist *

Mads Alstrup Mads Alstrup (1808-1876) was the first Danish portrait photographer with his own studio. For 16 years, he produced an enormous number of daguerreotypes, in Copenhagen and the provinces, before his business suffered from the financial crisis of 18 ...

(1808–1876) first Danish portrait photographer with his own studio * Kristian Mantzius (1819–1879) actor, popular with his audience but not his bosses *

Jeppe Aakjær Jeppe Aakjær (10 September 1866 – 22 (23) April 1930) was a Danish poet and novelist, a member of the ' Jutland Movement' in Danish literature". A regionalist, much of his writings were about his native Jutland. He was known for writings t ...

(1866–1930) poet and novelist, a member of the

Jutland Movement The ''Jutland Movement'' or folkelige realister opular realists were a group of loosely affiliated Danish writers. Their writing style, which dealt with the rural life of the Jutland peasants, formed them into a group. They existed around the tur ...

Anders Randolf Anders Randolf (December 18, 1870 – July 2, 1930) was a Danish American actor in American films from 1913 to 1930. Biography Anders was born in Viborg, Denmark, where he became a professional soldier in the Danish army and a world-class sw ...

(1870–1930) Danish American actor in American films *

Benjamin Christensen Benjamin Christensen (28 September 1879 – 2 April 1959) was a Danish people, Danish film director, screenwriter and an actor, both in film and on the stage. As a director, he is best known for the 1922 film ''Häxan'' (aka ''Witchcraft Thr ...

(1879–1959), film director, screenwriter and actor *

Tyge Hvass Tyge Hvass (5 July 1885 – 4 September 1963) was a Danish functionalist architect. He was most notable for his design work on the J.F. Willumsens Museum in Frederikssund. Biography Hvass was born in Randrup, Denmark. He was the son o ...

(1885 in Randrup1963) a Danish functionalist architect * A. W. Sandberg (1887–1938) a Danish film director and screenwriter *

Jens Klok Jens Christian Jensen Klok (25 January 1889 - June 16, 1974) was a Danish architect. Biography Jens Klok was born at Vinderslev Parish in Viborg, Denmark. He was the son of Laurits Klok and Karoline Adolfsen. He was first a mason apprentice a ...

(1889–1974) a Danish architect with the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Isla ...

Gudrun Houlberg Gudrun Houlberg (21 February 1889 – 14 January 1940) was a Danish actress who appeared in over 40 films from 1910 to 1934. She is remembered in particular for her roles in ''Klovnen'' (1917) and ''Grevindens ære'' (1919). Biography Born on 21 ...

(1889–1940) actress *

Olaf Wieghorst Olaf Wieghorst (April 30, 1899 – April 27, 1988) was a Danish-American painter who specialized in depictions of the American frontier. His art was in the vein of Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. In 1992, he was inducted into the Ha ...

(1899–1988), painter of the American West * Peter Seeberg (1925–1999), writer, worked in Viborg as a museum custodian *

Johann Otto von Spreckelsen Johan Otto von Spreckelsen (4 May 1929 — 16 March 1987) was a Danish architect, best known for designing the Grande Arche of La Défense in Puteaux, near Paris. He directed the creation of several modern churches in Denmark. Life He was ...

(1929–1987), architect * Peer Hultberg (1935–2007), a Danish author and psychoanalyst, lived in Viborg as a child *

Freddy Milton Freddy Milton Larsen (born April 18, 1948) is a Danish comics artist and writer, mostly known under his pen name Freddy Milton. He has worked with the European editions of Donald Duck and Woody Woodpecker. '' Familien Gnuff'' and ''Villiam'' are t ...

(born 1948 in Overlund) a Danish comics artist and writer * Poul Martin Bonde (born 1958) songwriter and spokesperson of

Smukfest Smukfest (also known as the Skanderborg Festival) is an annual music festival, held during the second weekend of August in Denmark. Its location, in a beech forest in the vicinity of Skanderborg, has given rise to the slogan "Denmarks' Most Beau ...

Frank Hvam Frank Hvam Nielsen, known professionally as Frank Hvam (born 12 September 1970) is a Danish stand-up-comedian. Hvam was born in Viborg and grew up on a farm in Ørum Sønderlyng. His legal name is Nielsen, but he uses only his middle name prof ...

(born 1970) stand-up-comedian * Morten Lund (born 1972) jazz drummer *

Lise Rønne Lise Rønne (born 1 November 1978 in Viborg) is a Danish journalist and television presenter, best known in Denmark for presenting four seasons of '' X Factor'' as well as two seasons of ''Dansk Melodi Grand Prix''. She is best known outside D ...

(born 1978) a Danish journalist and TV presenter IMDb Database
retrieved 26 May 2020 *

Rasmussen The surname Rasmussen () is a Denmark, Danish and Norway, Norwegian surname, meaning ''Rasmus (given name), Rasmus' son''. It is the ninth-most-common surname in Denmark, shared by about 1.9% of the population. * Charles Buchwald (1880 in Bjerringbro1951) amateur footballer, won silver medals at the 1908 and

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...

* Finn Døssing Jensen (born 1941) former footballer, 349 appearances for

Ulrik Wilbek Ulrik Wilbek (born 13 April 1958, in Tunis, Tunisia) is a former Danish team handball coach and current politician, and mayor of Viborg. He is the most successful Danish team handball coach ever, having won 2 European championships with the men a ...

(born 1958) successful handball coach and Mayor of Viborg since 2018 *

Nicolai Vollquartz Nicolai Vollquartz (born 7 February 1965) is a Danish football referee. He was born in Viborg. He was promoted to the FIFA referees list in 1999 and took charge of his first UEFA Cup match – a first round tie between Rapid București and Liver ...

(born 1965) football referee *

Nikolaj Jacobsen Nikolaj Bredahl Jacobsen (born 22 November 1971) is a Danish retired handball player and current coach of the Danish national team. He was named World Coach of the Year (male teams) in 2021 by IHF. As a coach, Jacobsen won the 2013 Danish Hand ...

(born 1971) a handball coach and former player with 148 caps for

Steffen Højer Steffen Højer (born 22 May 1973) is a Danish professional football coach and former player, who is the head coach of the Danish national under-21 football team. Højer spent most of his career with Viborg FF, although he also played for a numb ...

(born 1973) former football player, 380 club caps, many for

* Brian Buur (born 1977) (as Brian Sorensen) a former Danish darts player *

Henrik Dalsgaard Henrik Dalsgaard (born 27 July 1989) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Danish Superliga club FC Midtjylland. Dalsgaard began his professional career in his homeland with AaB, with whom he won the Danish league an ...

(born 1989 in Roum) footballer, over 300 club caps, plays for

Brentford F.C. Brentford Football Club is a professional football club in Brentford, West London, England, which competes in the Premier League, the highest tier of English football, having gained promotion via the playoffs at the end of the 2020–21 Champi ...

In popular culture

In the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

book ''

The Corridors of Time ''The Corridors of Time'' is a science fiction novel by the American writer Poul Anderson that was first published in 1965 as a serial in ''Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by ...

'' by

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and ...

, a Danish-American writer who did considerable research on Danish history, a large part of the plot takes place in 16th-century Viborg. The protagonist - an American

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

ler from the 20th century - arrives in the city in 1535 and gets involved with the adherents of the overthrown King

Christian II Christian II (1 July 1481 – 25 January 1559) was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union who reigned as King of Denmark and Norway, from 1513 until 1523, and Sweden from 1520 until 1521. From 1513 to 1523, he was concurrently Duke ...

and of the peasant rebel leader

Skipper Clement Klemen Andersen "Skipper Clement" ( – 9 September 1536) was a Danish merchant, captain, privateer and leader of the peasant rebellion that was part of the civil war known as the Count's Feud (''Grevens Fejde''). Background Clement was born to ...

, who face savage persecution in the city. Viborg is also the setting of " Number 13", a ghost story by the English writer

M.R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...

International relations

Twin towns—sister cities

Viborg is twinned with: *

Bayeux Bayeux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts ...

, France

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities and towns in the Central Denmark Region Municipal seats of Denmark Viborg Municipality