Vester Allé 12 is a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

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. The building was completed in 1902 and was listed by the

Danish Heritage Agency The Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces () is an agency under the aegis of the Danish Ministry of Culture. The agency carries out the cultural policies of the Danish government within the visual and performing arts, music, literature, museums, h ...

in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places on 5 April 1988. The building is situated on the west side of ''Vester Allé'' close by Vester Allé Barracks and ARoS Aarhus Art Museum. The building has been home to some of the earliest cultural institutions in the city. Colloquially the building is known as ''Smykkeskrinet'' (The Jewel Box) for its distinctive shape or as ''Erhvervsarkivet'' (The Business Archive) for its long tenure as the home of the Danish National Business Archives.

History

Vester Allé 12 was constructed between 1898 and 1902 as the home of the newly established State Library. In 1928

Aarhus University Aarhus University (, abbreviated AU) is a public research university. Its main campus is located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Ut ...

was established and the State Library became the official library of the new university and was renamed the State and University Library. The added functions meant there was insufficient space for storage and the library functions became scattered to a number of locations. In 1963 the library moved to the new building '' Bogtårnet'' (The Book Tower) designed by C.F. Møller on the

campus. When the State and University Library vacated the building it was taken over by the Business Archives (later the Danish National Business Archive). The business archive had been established by the city in 1946 as an independent historical institution focused on historical documents related to commerce, business and economy. The Business Archive was taken over by the Danish State Archives in 1968. The archive has functioned in a double role as both the national archive of business records and the local archive of the city of Aarhus since then. In 2011 Aarhus City Council had established the Aarhus City Archives with the goal of preserving local history and it moved into Vester Allé 12 which it shared with the Business Archive in close cooperation. In late 2015 the Business Archive was moved to Viborg due to a desire to centralize operations. The local historical records was left to the Aarhus City Archives.

Aarhus City Archives

''Aarhus Stadsarkiv'' (Aarhus City Archives) is the local historical archive for the city of

and the administrative body for all the local archives in

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality (), known as Århus Municipality () until 2011, is a ''Municipalities of Denmark, kommune'' in the Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and ...

. The archives were established in 2011 but operates under a set of regulations adopted in 2013 by the Aarhus City Council. The city archives primarily collect print or digital documents and data on municipal institutions but also material from individuals, organizations and companies based in the municipality. The City Archives has the position of chairman of the internal municipal archival committee and advice municipal institutions on the use of information technology. The archives is active in cultural cooperation between local archives, museums, educational institutions and municipal administration. The purpose of the archives is to ensure the history of the city can be documented fully and unbiased.

Architecture

The building was designed by architect Hack Kampmann and was constructed between 1898 and 1902. It is prominently situated on a hill overlooking

Aarhus River Aarhus River () is a long river, in eastern Jutland, Denmark. The river flows through the large river valley of Aarhus Ådal. The valley itself, stretches from Silkeborg to the coastal city of Aarhus, but the Aarhus River only runs through the e ...

. The building is in National Romantic and

historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

style, constructed from red bricks of lime and sandstone with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

and a

balcony A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

. It is adorned with many different types of

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

, bands and inscriptions. Above the front entrance is a relief showing a woman watering the Tree of Knowledge and along the eaves is a series of owls, symbolizing erudition and knowledge. The interior features designs by sculptor Karl Hansen Reistrup who also contributed to Aarhus Theatre. ErhvervsarkivetS.JPG, A raised terrace Erhvervsarkivet (Vester Allé).jpg Erhvervsarkivet.jpg Erhvervsarkivet2.jpg Erhvervsarkivet4.jpg Erhvervsarkivet-Læsesalen.jpg, The library Erhvervsarkivet-store-sal.jpg, Reading hall

References

External links

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Aarhus City Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vester Alle 12 Listed buildings in Aarhus Houses completed in 1902 National Romantic architecture in Aarhus Hack Kampmann buildings Art Nouveau government buildings 1890s architecture in Denmark