Graven is a street in

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 ...

, Denmark. Graven was created some time before year 1500 on and in the northernmost

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

used to defend the early

Viking Vikings were 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 settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

settlement. It is one of the oldest streets in the city and used to mark the northern city limits along with

Klostergade Klostergade (Literal translation, lit.: Priory-street) is a street in Aarhus which runs east from ''Grønnegade'' to ''Studsgade'', intersecting a number of streets. Klostergade is an old street, situated in the Vesterbro, Aarhus, Vesterbro neigh ...

. Graven runs 220 meter west to east from Klostergade to Mejlgade and is situated in the historic

Latin Quarter The Latin Quarter of Paris (, ) is an urban university campus in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros, t ...

neighborhood. Graven is fairly narrow and is a designated one-way street for motorized traffic in the direction of Mejlgade towards Klostergade. Graven is characterized by low housing, cafés and speciality shops, and has much foot and bicycle traffic. As Klostergade and Mejlgade, Graven is a shared bikeway, part of the city's bicycle infrastructure network.

Etymology

The earliest name of the street was "Gravene", meaning "the moats" or "the digs", referring to the previous moats around Aarhus, dug as part of the Viking town fortifications. The moats, the ramparts and the palisades were all dismantled, but carried over in some street names. The singular "Graven", which names the street today, is known from the late 1500s. The pronunciation of the name today still references the original plural name as the first syllable is pronounced with a long "a" as if it was the plural case.

History

The early Viking settlement was fortified by moats and ramparts to the north, west and south. During the

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

the city grew beyond the boundaries marked by these defenses and at the same time advancements in warfare had made them less useful in potential military conflicts. Some time before 1500, the ramparts and moats were dismantled and the street Graven was established on and in the northernmost moat. It is believed the moat was filled in using earth from an adjoining rampart. Graven became an extension of

which had previously been the northmost street in the city. In 1914, the city council hotly debated whether to lengthen Graven to newly built port facilities south of the city. The plan would entail demolishing Juuls Gaard and another property in Mejlgade. The later mayor Jakob Jensen argued against the plans as insufficient. In the end it was decided to wait for the

Goods Station A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...

to be relocated to the west of the city and for the

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

to be paved over and the new street Åboulevarden to be established. The changes proved sufficient and Graven kept its original medieval structure. Today, Graven is reminiscent of a typical European medieval street with low dense housing and a somewhat curved alignment. The majority of the buildings are from the 19th century interspersed with medieval half-timbered structures.

Buildings

Graven no. 21 was designed and built by architect Carl Lange in 1876 and commissioned by the city to house a social institution but since 1917 it was home to the municipal dental care facilities for public school.

References

;Publications * *

External links

{{Coord, 56.1586, 10.2104, region:DK_type:landmark, display=title Streets in Aarhus