Vordingborg () is an old ferry town in Vordingborg Municipality in Denmark with around 18,000 inhabitants. Because of three large estates surrounding the town, a coherent urban development has not been possible, which is the reason why three satellite towns (former villages) have emerged around the town. Within the ring of estates, the town has 12,000 inhabitants, and 17,868 inhabitants when including the three satellite towns of Ørslev, Nyråd, and

Stensved Stensved is a town, with a population of 1,585 (1. January 2022),BY3: Population 1. January by urban a ...

, situated 1, 3 and 5 kilometres, respectively, from the town of Vordingborg. Vordingborg Municipality (Kommune) has a population of 45,352. Long term head coach of the Danish national football team, Morten Olsen, was born in Vordingborg.

History

On 1 January 2007 the old Vordingborg municipality was, as the result of ''Kommunalreformen'' ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), merged with Langebæk,

Møn Møn () is an island in south-eastern Denmark. Until 1 January 2007, it was a municipality in its own right but it is now part of the municipality of Vordingborg, after merging with the former municipalities of Langebæk, Præstø, and Vordingbo ...

, and Præstø municipalities to form an enlarged Vordingborg municipality.

Geography

Vordingborg is situated 37 km from Nykøbing Falster, roughly 50 km from Gedser, and roughly 100 km from Copenhagen and Odense. The town is situated on the island of Zealand and is linked to the island of

Falster Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010.

with Farø Bridges and Storstrøm Bridge.

Economy

Vordingborg Municipality is home to 9,500 jobs. Companies headquartered in Vordingborg include Vordingborg Køkkener, a kitchen manufacturer. Udbetaling Danmark, a public institution under ARP, has one of its five regional centres in the town.

Attractions

The ruins of Vordingborg Castle, the old royal castle which was built around 1364, is the town's most famous attraction. The only fully remaining part of the castle, the 26 meter tall Goose Tower (''Gåsetårnet''), is the symbol of the city. It is the largest of King Valdemar Atterdag's nine main castle towers. The name comes from the golden goose perched on top of the tower's spire. Legend has it that Valdemar Atterdag used the symbol to taunt the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

. The current goose was put there in 1871. It is not certain what was on top of the tower before 1871 and maybe it was just a weather vane made of gold. The tower was transferred into the national trust on 24 December 1808 and is thus the first protected historic monument in Denmark. A historic garden is also located on the site of the ruin. Vordingborg is the home of the South Zealand Museum (''Sydsjællands Museum''). The city holds an annual festival, Vordingborg Fest Week (''Vordingborg Festuge'') in July. The Vordingborg Transmitter is one of the tallest towers in Denmark. The Danish Army operates a barracks facility on the edge of town, known as '' Vordingborg Kaserne''.

Notable people

Anne Lykke Anne Lykke (30 April 1595 – 1641) was a Danish noblewoman and royal mistress of Christian, Prince Elect of Denmark. Early life Anne Henriksdatter Lykke was born into one of Denmark's more prosperous noble families. She was the daughter of the ...

(1595 in Vordingborg Castle – 1641) a Danish noblewoman and royal mistress of Christian, Prince Elect of Denmark *

Jacob Baden Jacob Baden (4 May 1735 – 5 July 1804) was a Danish philologist, pedagogue, and critic. He was a professor of rhetoric and Latin at the University of Copenhagen in 1779. He was the first person to lecture on Danish grammar at the university be ...

(1735 in Vordingborg – 1804) a philologist, pedagogue, critic and academic * Peter Andreas Heiberg (1758 in Vordingborg - 1841) a Danish author and philologist * Frederik Christian Kielsen (1774-1850) a Danish schoolmaster, published copiously illustrated books on natural history; he lectured at the Latin School in Vordingborg from 1819 to 1833 * N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783 in Udby near Vordingborg – 1872) a Danish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian and politician * Martin Hammerich (1811 - 1881 in Iselingen) an art historian, educator, author and translator. * Meïr Aron Goldschmidt (1819 in Vordingborg – 1887) a publisher, journalist and novelist The Encyclopedia Americana, Goldschmidt, Meier Aaron
retrieved 14 June 2020 * Carl Lange (1834 in Vordingborg – 1900) a physician, worked on neurology, psychiatry and psychology * Julius Lange (1838 in Vordingborg – 1896) a Danish art historian and critic * Astrid Stampe Feddersen (1852 in Christinelund – 1930) a Danish women's rights activist * Jacob Ellehammer (1871 in Bakkebølle – 1946) a Danish watchmaker, inventor and contributor to powered flight * Johannes Friis-Skotte (1874 in Vordingborg – 1946) a Danish politician and minister *

Jesper Ewald Jesper Ewald (24 December 1893 in Vordingborg – 30 August 1969 in Copenhagen) was a Danish author, journalist and translator. He was the son of Carl Ewald and half-brother to Poul Henningsen. Beside the books he wrote under his own name, Jes ...

(1893 in Vordingborg – 1969 in Copenhagen) an author, journalist and translator * Jesper Juul (born 1948 in Vordingborg) a family therapist and author on parenting * Yenz Leonhardt (born 1961 in Vordingborg) a heavy metal musician * Anders Trentemøller (born 1974 in Vordingborg) an electronic music producer and multi-instrumentalist Morten Olsen 2012

Sport

Vagn Ingerslev Vagn Ingerslev (23 March 1885 – 28 December 1952) was a Danish tennis player. He competed in two events at the 1912 Summer Olympics. References External links

* 1885 births 1952 deaths Danish male tennis players Olympic tennis pl ...

(1885 in Vordingborg – 1952) a tennis player, competed at the

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 ...

* Morten Olsen (born 1949) former footballer with 531 club caps and 102 for Denmark with whom he was head coach from 2000 until 2015 * Birger Pedersen (born 1950 in Vordingborg) a Danish former footballer, 14 caps for Denmark * Steven Lustü (born 1971 in Vordingborg) a Danish former footballer with 9 caps for Denmark

Twin towns

Vordingborg is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Słupsk, Poland - since 1994.

References

External links

Official site of Vordingborg
{{Coord, 55.00000, N, 11.90000, E, region:DK-035_type:city(25500), display=title Municipal seats of Region Zealand Municipal seats of Denmark Cities and towns in Region Zealand Vordingborg Municipality