Vennelystparken is the oldest park in the city of

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 northwe ...

, constructed in the years 1824 to 1830 between the streets ''Vennelyst Boulevard'' and ''Nørrebrogade''. Through the 19th century up to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the park was a social focal point in Aarhus hosting revues, circusses, plays and concerts in changing venues. The park is now part of the Aarhus University campus in Midtbyen. The park no longer has any venues but is frequently used for open-air concerts and protests and functions as the local park of the neighborhood ''Øgadekvarteret''. Vennelystparken contains large undulating, grassy areas with a lake and stream cutting through, and is characterized by

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...

and

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrel ...

trees.

History

The area was originally a rough and muddy field used for grazing cattle, but in 1824 Julius Høegh-Guldberg rented the area of

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 ...

for a period of 25 years, with the intention of creating a new commercial recreational area. In 1830, the new park opened under the name ''Vennelystparken'' after extensive landscaping. The park was a fenced, guarded and required a fee for entry, but still became a popular recreational destination for the Aarhus citizens. Vennelystparken ca 1900

In 1849, permission was given to build a small theatre in the park, initiating a century long cultural high-point in the history of the park. The theatre hosted innumerable parties, social events, concerts, song performances and became the usual venue for touring theatre groups,

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

and circuses.

Fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

and

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries ...

shows, were also popular and in 1880 the first summer revue was held, a tradition that lasted 60 years. In the fall of 1896, a "

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

-caravane" consisting of two Sami families, eight

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...

and their dogs, became an exhibition and attraction. The theatre was decorated in a suitably winterish landscape and entrants were charged a fee to see performances. The

dogs multiplied during their stay, and became

high fashion ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became the ...

in Aarhus at the time. In 1897, a new wooden venue was built, designed by

Thorvald Jørgensen Thorvald Jørgensen (27 June 1867 - 15 May 1946) was a Danish architect, most known for his design of Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament, after it had been destroyed in a fire. He has also designed a number of churches i ...

National Romantic style The National Romantic style was a Nordic architectural style that was part of the National Romantic movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is often considered to be a form of Art Nouveau. The National Romantic style spread ...

, with a characteristic 35m tall lookout tower. It burned in 1908 but the year after a new theatre was built, supplemented by an outdoor scene in 1910. The upper social classes started frequenting the park at this time and it was a fashionable and popular location through the 1920s and 1930s. In January 1945, in the latter months of the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

, the ''Vennelyst Theatre'' was bombed during a

schalburgtage Schalburgtage was the popular name for the retaliation which Germans and their Danish collaborators carried out as revenge for resistance activity in the last part of the occupation of Denmark between 1944 and 1945. The word is partially a refere ...

terror attack. It was never rebuilt and the park today remains open-air. In 1957, Aarhus University expanded its campus to include Vennelystparken. Architect C. F. Møller designed a building for education in Journalism and many other buildings has followed, including education buildings for nurses and dentists, student housing and an arts museum. In 1973 the journalist education moved to the

Danish School of Media and Journalism Danish School of Media and Journalism ( da, Danmarks Medie- og Journalisthøjskole), or DMJX for short, is a Danish organization for higher education in, and a knowledge centre of, media and journalism. DMJX has two campuses; one in Copenhagen and ...

and in 2002, the arts museum moved out and has exhibited in the

ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum The ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum is an art museum in Aarhus, Denmark. The museum was established in 1859 and is the oldest public art museum in Denmark outside Copenhagen. On 7 April 2004, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum opened with exhibitions in a brand new ...

since 2004. Today all the buildings are owned and administered by Aarhus University and used for education, research or housing.

Gallery

File:Vennelystparken (maj).jpg File:Vennelystparken (maj) 03.jpg File:Vennelystparken (maj) 04.jpg File:Vennelystparken (egetræ).jpg File:Vennelystparken (efterår) 01.jpg File:Vennelystparken 2.jpg File:Vennelystparken 1.jpg File:Dale's Café.jpg

References

;Publications * {{Aarhus Parks in Aarhus

History

Gallery

See also

References