Until 1 January 2007 Skælskør Municipality was a municipality ( Danish: '' kommune'') in the former West Zealand County, on the southwestern coast of the island of

Zealand Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous islands of Denmark, island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 Januar ...

, in eastern

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 ...

. The municipality covered an area of 170.02 km², and had a total population of 11,928 (2006). Its last mayor was Hans Ole Drost, a member of the Venstre. Skælskør Municipality bordered

Korsør Korsør is a town in Zealand (Denmark), Zealand, Denmark. It is located in Slagelse Municipality. Until 2007 Korsør was the seat of Korsør Municipality. The town is located west of Slagelse, north-west of Skælskør and connects to Nyborg thr ...

and Hashøj Municipality to the north and Fuglebjerg Municipality to the east. The municipality included the islands of

Agersø Agersø is a Danish island in the Great Belt close to Zealand Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous islands of Denmark, island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 ...

Omø Omø is a Danish island in the Great Belt. The island covers an area of , with a 12-kilometre (7-mile) coastline, and has 168 inhabitants, of which the majority inhabit ''Omø village'', which has a church, and Kirkehavn, a small harbour with a f ...

and Glænø. To the west is the

Great Belt The Great Belt (, ) is a strait between the major islands of Zealand (''Sjælland'') and Funen (''Fyn'') in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits. Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great Belt ferries fr ...

(Danish: ''Storebælt''), the

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

that separates Zealand and the island of

Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...

(Danish. ''Fyn''), and the Agersø Sound (Danish: ''Agersø Sund''), the strait that separates Zealand from the former municipality's islands of Agersø and Omø. To the south is Karrebæksminde Bay (Danish: ''Karrebæksminde Bugt'') and Rågø Sund. The municipality's island of Glænø lies in Karrebæksminde Bay, along with a number of other smaller islands. ''Noret'', a large lake lies to the north of the town of Skælskør. The municipality ceased to exist as the result of ''Kommunalreformen 2007'' (the Municipality Reform of 2007). It was merged with

Slagelse Slagelse () is a town on Zealand (Denmark), Zealand, Denmark. The town is the seat of Slagelse Municipality, and is the biggest town of the municipality. It is located 15 km east of Korsør, 16 km north-east of Skælskør, 33 km south-east of Ka ...

, Hashøj and Korsør municipalities to form a new Slagelse municipality. The new municipality belongs to

Region Zealand Region Zealand () is an Regions of Denmark, administrative region of Denmark. It is one of the five classified Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-2 statistical NUTS statistical regions of Denmark, regions of Denmark. It was es ...

History

Skælskør was likely built in the 1100s, and was granted the status of a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

(Danish: ''Købstad'') in 1414. It originally played a role as a transit town between Zealand,

and

Langeland Langeland (, ) is a Danish island located between the Great Belt and Bay of Kiel. The island measures 285 km2 (c. 110 square miles) and, as of 1 January 2018, has a population of 12,446.

, though

eventually became the more prominent transit town on the coast. In the Middle Ages, when Denmark was divided into hundreds, the area of Skælskør Municipality were under Vester Flakkebjerg Hundred and Slagelse Hundred. Vester Flakkebjerg Hundred was under Sorø County when it was established in 1662, while Slagelse Hundred came under Korsør County. Sorø County was merged with Ringsted County in 1748. It was merged again in 1798, this time with Korsør County and Antvorskov County. This county lasted until the

1970 Danish Municipal Reform The 1970 Danish Municipal Reform was an extensive administrative reform in Denmark which on 1 April 1970 reduced the number of Danish municipalities from 1,098 to 277 and the number of counties from 25 to 14. The reform also abolished the last le ...

where it merged with Holbæk County to create West Zealand County (Danish: ''Vestsjællands Amt''). After the 2007 municipal reform this changed to

. From 1842, where parish municipalities were created, and until 1922 the area of Skælskør Municipality consisted of nine parish municipalities. From 1875 it also consisted of Skælskør Market Town Municipality, which would merge with its Rural District Parish Municipality in 1922, leaving eight parish municipalities and one market town municipality. In 1966 many of these parish municipalities were merged to create only two parish municipalities, which would again be merged to form Skælskør Municipality in the 1970 Municipal Reform. In the Municipality Reform of 2007 Skælskør Municipality was merged with Hashøj, Slagelse and Korsør Municipality to form a new Slagelse Municipality.

Historical divisions

Mayors

Since the creation of the municipality in 1970 and until it was dissolved in 2007, the mayors of Skælskør Municipality were:

Towns

The largest town in the municipality was Skælskør, where more than half of the municipality's population lived. Nearly a third of the population lived in rural areas. The remaining population lived in the towns of Bisserup, Boeslunde, Eggeslevmagle and Rude. Notable smaller villages in the municipality included the main settlements on Agersø and Omø: Agersø By and Omø By. Skælskør was located in the western part of the municipality, bordering ''Skælskør Nor'', giving it access to the sea. In the town is a church from the 1200s. It is named Saint Nicholas Church (Danish: ''Sankt Nicolai Kirke'') and is located centrally in the town. One of the largest breweries in Denmark, Harboe's Brewery, has been located in Skælskør since its foundation in 1883. Below are the populations from 2006 of the five larger settlements of the municipality.Statistikbanken.dk
"BEF44: Folketal 1. januar efter byområder, landdistrikter (AFSLUTTET)" Retrieved 6 October 2020

Politics

Municipal council

Below are the municipal council elected from the municipality's creation in 1970 and until 2001, which was the last election before the municipality was dissolved.

Parishes

The municipality consisted of eleven parishes and eleven churches. * Agersø Parish ( Agersø Church) * Boeslunde Parish ( Boeslunde Church) * Eggeslevmagle Parish ( Eggeslevmagle Church) * Holsteinborg Parish ( Holsteinborg Church) * Magleby Parish ( Magleby Church) * Omø Parish ( Omø Church) * Skælskør Parish ( Saint Nicholas Church) * Sønder Bjerge Parish ( Sønder Bjerge Church) * Tjæreby Parish ( Tjæreby Church) * Venslev Parish ( Venslev Church) * Ørslev Parish ( Ørslev Church)

Symbols

The municipality's coat of arms is the same as the town of Skælskør's. It shows a bridge connecting the two parts of the town of Skælskør. The church is located to the left, illustrated with crosses. The city hall is on the right. They stand on green grass with a river running across the land and through the town, under the bridge. In the river is an escallop, which is in reference to the origin of the town's name "''Skælfisk-ør''" translating to ''shellfish beach''. The sky is dark blue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skaelskor Municipality Former municipalities of Denmark