Fredericia () is a town located in Fredericia Municipality in the southeastern part of the

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

peninsula in Denmark. The city is part of the Triangle Region, which includes the neighbouring cities of

Kolding Kolding () is a Denmark, Danish seaport city located at the head of Kolding Fjord in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the seat of Kolding Municipality. It is a transportation, commercial, and manufacturing centre and has numerous industria ...

and Vejle. It was founded in 1650 by Frederick III, after whom it was named. The city itself has a population of 41,543 (1 January 2025)BY3: Population 1. January by urban areas, area and population density
The Mobile Statbank from

Statistics Denmark Statistics Denmark () is a Danish governmental organization under the Ministry of the Interior and Housing, reporting to the Minister of Economic and Internal Affairs. The organization is responsible for creating statistics on the Danish society ...

and the Fredericia Municipality has a population of 52,616 (2025).

History

After the devastation caused by the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...

in a largely unfortified Jutland, King Christian IV realized the necessity of building a strong fortress in Jutland, and decided that this project could be combined with his plans for building a large town in Jutland. A fortified encampment was built on a point of land called Lyngs Odde, near the current location of Fredericia, with a rampart stretching to either side of the point, thus protecting the encampment from attacks. However, the fortifications were not perfect, and when Swedish Field Marshal

Lennart Torstenson Lennart Torstensson (17 August 1603 – 7 April 1651), Swedish List of Swedish field marshals, Field Marshal and later Governor-General of Pomerania, Västergötland, Dalsland, Värmland and Halland. He adapted the use of artillery on the battlef ...

invaded Jutland, he was able to break through the ramparts. It was Frederick III who was finally able to complete the plans for the fortification, also adding a flank fortification on nearby Bers Odde as suggested by Danish Marshal of the Realm Anders Bille. On 15 December 1650, the King signed the document giving the town its first privileges, and work on the new fortifications could begin. In 1651, the town was named Frederiksodde (Frederick's Point) after the king, and on 22 April 1664, it was given the new

Latinized name Latinisation (or Latinization) of names, also known as onomastic Latinisation (or onomastic Latinization), is the practice of rendering a ''non''-Latin name in a modern Latin style. It is commonly found with historical proper names, including p ...

of Fredericia. Every 6 July, the town of Fredericia holds a festival to commemorate the 1849 Battle of Fredericia, fought during the

First War of Schleswig The First Schleswig War (), also known as the Schleswig-Holstein uprising () and the Three Years' War (), was a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig–Holstein question: who should control the Duc ...

, in which Danish troops won a victory over the

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

rebels who were laying siege to the town. Fredericia's landmark, ''Landsoldaten'', was unveiled on 6 July 1858.

Present

The municipality today is part of the

East Jutland metropolitan area East Jutland metropolitan area () is a potential metropolitan area in Jutland and Funen, Denmark. Aarhus is the most populated city in the region. The National Planning Report of 2006, published by the Danish Environment Ministry, argued that ...

with 1.2M inhabitants, and is the site of Fredericia municipality's municipal council. The town is a major

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

, home to the

Royal Danish Army The Royal Danish Army (; ; ) is the land-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures, equipment and training methods ...

's Signals Regiment ('' Telegrafregimentet''), which is located at Rye's Barracks (''Ryes Kaserne'') and Bülow's Barracks (''Bülows Kaserne'').

Transportation

The town is one of Denmark's largest traffic hubs.

Rail

Fredericia railway station is the principal railway station of the town. It is an important

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. The physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge) is provided by turnouts (US: switc ...

where the Copenhagen-Fredericia Line, the Fredericia-Aarhus Line, and the Flensburg-Fredericia Line all meet.Fredericia Banegård
o
Danske Jernbaner
/ref> The station was opened in 1935 together with the opening of the Little Belt Bridge across the

Little Belt The Little Belt (, ) is a strait between the island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish straits, Danish Straits that drain and connect the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat strait, which drains west to the Nor ...

. The train services are operated by the

railway company A rail transport company is a company active within the rail industry. It can be: * a manufacturing company, * a rail transport operations, railway undertaking providing services through operating rolling stock, * a railway infrastructure manager ...

DSB. It offers direct

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

services to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

, Struer,

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport city and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban area, urban population of 71,554 (1 January ...

Sønderborg (; ) is a Denmark, Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Sønderborg Municipality (Kommune). The town has a population of 28,333 (1 January 2025),Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Air

The nearest

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

with scheduled national and

international flight An international flight is a form of commercial flight within civil aviation where the Takeoff, departure and the arrival take place in different Country, countries. Regular international passenger air service began in August 1919 with a flight ...

s is Billund Airport 45 km west of Fredericia.

Sport

Speedway

The Vejlby Speedway Center, run by the Fredericia Motor Klub, is located on the northern outskirts of Fredericia and is a mini speedway track for bikes with 50cc and 80cc engines. Fredericia Speedway competed in the town from 1958 to 2005 at various venues, including the Fredericia Speedway Center (the old Fredericia Stadion) and the Frederikslyst Motorbane.

Notable people

* Jens Mikkelsen Ehrenborg (1621 in Fredericia – 1690), an officer, civil servant, and Swedish nobleman * Jørgen Balthazar Winterfeldt (1732 in Fredericia - 1821), a naval officer and philanthropist * Hartvig Philip Rée (1778 in Fredericia – 1859), a Jewish-Danish merchant and author * Poul Pagh (1796 in Fredericia – 1870), a Danish merchant and shipowner * Frederick Brockhausen (1858 in Fredericia – 1929), a cigar maker, trade unionist and US politician * Vilhelm Buhl (1881 in Fredericia – 1954), the 11th

Prime Minister of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark (, , ) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Before the creation of the modern office, the kingdom did not init ...

Erik Holtved Dr. Erik Holtved ( Greenlandic nickname: ''Erissuaq''; translation: "Big Eric") (21 June 1899 in Fredericia, Denmark – 1981 in Copenhagen, Denmark) was a Danish artist, archaeologist, linguist, and ethnologist. He was the first university- ...

(1899 in Fredericia – 1981), an archaeologist,

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

and artist * Jørgen Vig Knudstorp (born 1968 in Fredericia), businessman, former CEO of Lego Group

The Arts

* Carit Etlar (1816 in Fredericia – 1900), Danish author of ''Gjøngehøvdingen'' in 1853 * Magdalene Thoresen (1819 in Fredericia – 1903), a Norwegian poet, novelist and playwright * Henrik Pontoppidan (1857 in Fredericia – 1943), a Danish realist writer, shared the 1917

Nobel Prize for Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in t ...

* Svend Rathsack (1885 in Fredericia – 1941), a Danish sculptor * Svend Melsing (1888 in Fredericia – 1946), actor, theatre director and playwright * Ellen Krause (1905 in Fredericia — 1990), a Danish artist, joined the Odsherred Painters *

Else Holmelund Minarik Else Holmelund Minarik (née Holmelund; September 13, 1920 – July 12, 2012) was a Danish-born American author of more than 40 children's books. She was most commonly associated with her ''Little Bear (book), Little Bear'' series of children's b ...

(1920 in Fredericia – 2012), an American author of children's books *

Tage Skou-Hansen Tage Skou-Hansen (12 February 1925 – 11 November 2015) was a Danish writer, editor and scholar. Overview Born in the town of Fredericia, Tage Skou-Hansen graduated from Marselisborg gymnasium (Denmark), Gymnasium in Aarhus and became a student ...

(1925 in Fredericia – 2015), a Danish writer, editor and scholar * Cecil Bødker (born 1927 in Fredericia - 2020), a writer of young adult fiction and a poet * Erik Moseholm (1930 in Fredericia – 2012), a jazz composer, bandleader of the DR Big Band * Harvey Martin (1942 - 2014), sculptor * Kristian Blak (born 1947 in Fredericia), a composer and musician in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

Martin Zandvliet Martin Pieter Zandvliet (born 7 January 1971 in Fredericia) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. Career Zandvliet originally began as an editor, before writing and directing the documentary ''Angels of Brooklyn'' in 2002. His first m ...

(born 1971 in Fredericia), a Danish film director and screenwriter * Christian Holten Bonke (born 1973 in Fredericia), a documentary filmmaker and screenwriter IMDb Database
retrieved 7 May 2020 * Søren Andersen (born 1973 in Fredericia), Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter, Producer. * Matias Saabye Køedt (

Galimatias Galimatias (born Matias Saabye Køedt) is a Danish electronic music artist from the small town of Fredericia, currently based in Los Angeles. He is best known for his 2015 EP '' Urban Flora'', with American singer-songwriter Alina Baraz. Caree ...

) (born 1991 in Fredericia). an electronic music artist best known for his 2015 EP Urban Flora with American singer-songwriter

Alina Baraz Alina Baraz (born September 24, 1993) is an American singer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she began her professional musical career in 2013 when she released "Roses Dipped in Gold". In 2015, Baraz and electronic producer Galimatias relea ...

Sport

* Jesper Bank (born 1957 in Fredericia), a sailor, twice Olympic gold medallist in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

* Peter Kjær (born 1965 in Fredericia), a Danish former footballer with 459 club caps * Thomas Sørensen (born 1976 in Fredericia), football goalkeeper, 497 club caps and 101 for

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

* Patrick Hougaard (born 1989 in Fredericia), a Danish motorcycle speedway rider * Annette Jensen (born 1991 in Fredericia), a Danish handball player * Sara Thygesen (born 1991 in Fredericia), a badminton player, specializing in doubles play. * Katrine Veje (born 1991 in Fredericia), a footballer, over 200 club caps and 119 for Denmark women

Twin towns

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Municipal seats of the Region of Southern Denmark Municipal seats of Denmark Cities and towns in the Region of Southern Denmark Forts in Denmark Port cities and towns in Denmark Port cities and towns of the North Sea Planned communities Fredericia Municipality 1650 establishments in Europe Populated places established in 1650 Frederick III of Denmark

History

Present

Transportation

Rail

Air

Sport

Speedway

Notable people

The Arts

Sport

Twin towns

See also

References

External links