Vester Allés Kaserne
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Vester Allé Kaserne is a former military barracks and
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 ...
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 northwest ...
. The barracks was built on the area between ''Vester Allé'', ''Frederiks Allé'' and ''Thomas Jensens Allé'' in 1875-1878 and was closed in 1969 after which the buildings were taken over by
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 ...
. There are two remaining buildings left from the original complex; the ''Officersbygningen'' (The Officers Buildings) and ''Ridehuset'' (The Riding Hall). Today the riding hall today functions as a small multi-hall in Aarhus city hosting concerts, exhibitions and markets; frequently cultural events, but anyone can rent it and use it for private or commercial purposes as well. The officers building is home to Aarhus School of Music and the
Aarhus Festuge Aarhus Festuge (Aarhus Festival) is a 10-day arts and culture festival in the city of Aarhus, Denmark. It takes place every year in late August to early September (in weeks 35-36). The first Aarhus Festival happened in 1965, after being establi ...
secretariat. There is a small café here too - Café Monroe -, serving breakfast and lunch three days in the week and occasionally hot evening meals accompanying small concerts. The parade grounds between the buildings feature a white wooden building known as Jacob Haugaards' Toilet. It was constructed when
Jacob Haugaard Daniel Jacob Haugaard (born 12 May 1952) is a Danish-Faroese comedian, actor, musician, composer, writer, TV host and former representative in the Danish Parliament. Activities Jacob Haugaard has been a well-known performer in Denmark for man ...
was elected to the
Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...
in 1994 and one of his campaign promises was to build a toilet there.


Architecture

Vester Allé Kaserne is an example of the
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 ...
; designed by Carl Lange. The officers building is a three floor structure with a basement, constructed in 1874-1878 in conjunction with a number of other structures that are now gone. It is a red brick structure with bands of yellow bricks, arched windows and doors of yellow brick. For decorative reasons corner towers and
buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es were included. The building was meant to house 100 soldiers, officers, school rooms and commonrooms. The riding hall is a single hall of 900m2 with enough room for 1130 people.


History

The riding hall was constructed in 1860 by the Ministry of War for the 3rd Dragoon Regiment, also called Prins Frederik Ferdinands Dragoons, which had been stationed in Aarhus since 1819. The riding hall was the only military structure in the city at the time with soldiers being quartered in private homes and interimistic barracks around the city. In the 1860s the garrison was increased and it became necessary to build new barracks. The new cavalry barracks was constructed in 1875-1878 and was situated next to the existing riding hall. The first buildings completed were the school stables and in 1876 the school barracks along Vester Allé were also ready for use. In addition to school facilities the building included homes for officers so in common parlance it became known as the Officers Building. The 3rd Dragoon Regiment also had their own barracks and stables in the area in addition to a junior officers building in ''Valdemarsgade''. The only buildings remaining are the Riding Hall and Officers Building. In 1936 the Dragoon Regiment was moved to
Holstebro Holstebro is the main town in Holstebro Municipality, Denmark. The town, bisected by ''Storåen'' ("The Large Creek") and has a population of 36,489 (1 January 2022).World War II 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 opposin ...
, all barracks in Aarhus was occupied by German forces, but they found the facilities to be inadequate, so wooden structures were erected on the parade grounds. In 1944, the artillery barracks
Langelandsgade Kaserne Langelandsgade Kaserne is a former military barracks in Aarhus, Denmark. It was used by the military from 1889 to 1993, when Aarhus University took ownership. After a restoration, it is now the headquarters of the Aarhus University department Schoo ...
was bombed, leaving the city with insufficient space for the garrison after the war and the wooden structures were eventually left in place, until Vester Allé Kaserne was closed in 1969.


Garrisoned units

* 1876-1932 3. Dragoon Regiment * 1933-1940 3. Artillery Unit and 9. Artillery Unit * 1940-1945 Occupied by German troops * 1953-1955 8. Regimental Staff * 1960-1962 34. Artillery Unit * 1951-1969 23. and 33. Artillery Units, Nørrejyske Artillery Regiment


References


External links


Official website of the Riding Hall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vester Alle Kaserne Listed buildings in Aarhus Former military buildings and structures in Denmark National Romantic architecture in Aarhus