Vestergade (
lit: Westward-street) is a street in
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Ă…rhus 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
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 ...
, which runs east to west from the central square of
Store Torv to the city park of
Åparken at ''Carl Blochs Gade'', intersecting the main streets of ''Grønnegade'' and ''Vester Allé'' along its course. Vestergade begins in the
Indre By
Indre By (English language, English: ), also known as Copenhagen Center or K or Downtown Copenhagen, is an districts of Copenhagen, administrative district (''bydel'') in central Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. It covers an area of , has a p ...
neighborhood and ends in neighborhood of
Vesterbro, close to
CeresByen. Vestergade has some of the best preserved 18th-century merchant estates in Aarhus and a history of creativity and artistic expression.
Vestergade was the original road leading to
Viborg in the old
Viking Age
The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...
settlement. The buildings along Vestergade were the first outside the western defensive ramparts and formed the first civilian settlement. Originally, the street ended at ''Grønnegade'' but has since been lengthened as the city grew around it. Vestergade represents most periods in the history of Aarhus.
History
The early
Viking Age
The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...
settlement is thought to have been a military fortress and port. In the 900s, a settlement gradually developed outside the ramparts by the western gate. The new settlement housed traders, craftsmen, farmers and others that made a living dealing with the military base but were not permitted within it. In the settlement, a wooden church was constructed on the site of present-day
Church of Our Lady. Vestergade is the street that led from the western gate of the fortress through the settlement by the church.
In the 11th century, Aarhus had become the seat of a
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
and the wooden church was replaced by a new whitewashed
travertine
Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...
church devoted to
St. Nicholas; officially the cathedral of the diocese. Vestergade became the trade and