1.
Roskilde
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Roskilde, located 30 km west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand, is the main city in Roskilde Municipality. With a population of 50,046, the city is a business and educational centre for the region, Roskilde is governed by the administrative council of Roskilde Municipality. Roskilde has a history, dating from the pre-Christian Viking Age. Its UNESCO-listed Gothic cathedral, now housing 39 tombs of the Danish monarchs, was completed in 1275, among the largest private sector employers today are the IT firm BEC and GPI, specializing in plastics. The Risø research facility is becoming a major employer, extending interest in sustainable energy to the clean technology sphere. The local university, founded in 1972, the historic Cathedral School, Roskilde has a large local hospital which has been expanded and modernized since it was opened in 1855. It is now active in the research sphere. The Sankt Hans psychiatric hospital serves the Capital Region with specialized facilities for forensic psychiatry, the cathedral and the Viking Ship Museum, which contains the well-preserved remains of five 11th-century ships, attract more than 100,000 visitors annually. The city is home to the FC Roskilde football club play in the Danish 1st Division, the Roskilde Vikings RK rugby club. In the 1970s, the city benefited from the opening of the university, Roskilde has the oldest operational railway station in Denmark, with connections across Zealand as well as with Falster, Lolland, and Jutland. The local airport opened in 1973, mainly serving light aircraft for business use, from the 11th century until 1443, it was the capital of Denmark. By the Middle Ages, with the support of kings and bishops, the Saxo Grammaticus and other early sources associate the name Roskilde with the legendary King Roar who possibly lived there in the 6th century. According to Adam of Bremen and the Saxo Grammaticus, Roskilde was founded in the 980s by Harald Bluetooth, on high ground above the harbour, he built a wooden church consecrated to the Holy Trinity as well as a royal residence nearby. Although no traces of buildings have been discovered, in 1997 archaeologists found the remains of Viking ships in the Isefjord. At the time, there were two churches in the area, St Jørgensbjerg, an early stone church, and a wooden church discovered under todays St Ibs Church. Harald was buried in the church he had built on the site of todays Roskilde Cathedral. In 1020, King Canute elevated Roskilde to a bishopric, giving it high national status, absalon, the Danish bishop, had a brick church built on the site of Haralds church in 1170. Todays cathedral was completed in 1275 after five of Absalons successors had contributed to its construction, as a result of Absalons influence, many other churches were built in the vicinity, making Roskilde the most important town in Zealand
2.
Island
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An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, an island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago, an island may be described as such, despite the presence of an artificial land bridge. Example, Singapore and its causeway, or the various Dutch delta islands, there are two main types of islands in the sea, continental and oceanic. The word island derives from Middle English iland, from Old English igland, Old English ieg is actually a cognate of Swedish ö and German Aue, and related to Latin aqua. There is a difference between islands and continents in terms of geology, continents sit on continental lithosphere which is part of tectonic plates floating high on Earths mantle. Oceanic crust is also part of tectonic plates, but it is denser than continental lithosphere, Islands are either extensions of the oceanic crust or geologically they are part of some continent sitting on continental lithosphere. This holds true for Australia, which sits on its own continental lithosphere, continental islands are bodies of land that lie on the continental shelf of a continent. A special type of island is the microcontinental island, which is created when a continent is rifted. Examples are Madagascar and Socotra off Africa, the Kerguelen Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, another subtype is an island or bar formed by deposition of tiny rocks where water current loses some of its carrying capacity. While some are transitory and may disappear if the volume or speed of the current changes, others are stable, oceanic islands are islands that do not sit on continental shelves. The vast majority are volcanic in origin, such as Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, the few oceanic islands that are not volcanic are tectonic in origin and arise where plate movements have lifted up the ocean floor above the surface. Examples are Saint Peter and Paul Rocks in the Atlantic Ocean, one type of volcanic oceanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring, examples are the Aleutian Islands, the Mariana Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. The only examples in the Atlantic Ocean are some of the Lesser Antilles, another type of volcanic oceanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples, Iceland, which is the second largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen. A third type of oceanic island is formed over volcanic hotspots. A hotspot is more or less stationary relative to the tectonic plate above it
3.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
4.
Viking Ship Museum (Roskilde)
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The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde is Denmarks national museum for ships, seafaring and boatbuilding in the prehistoric and medieval period. The main focus of the museum is a permanent exhibition of five original Viking ships excavated nearby in 1962, the Viking Ship Museum also conducts research and educate researchers in the fields of maritime history, marine archaeology and experimental archaeology. Various academic conferences are held here and there is a library in association with the museum. Around the year 1070, five Viking ships were sunk at Skuldelev in Roskilde Fjord in order to block the most important fairway. These ships, later known as the Skuldelev ships, were excavated in 1962 and they turned out to be five different types of ships ranging from cargo ships to ships of war. The Viking Ship Museum overlooking the inlet of Roskilde Fjord was built in 1969 with the purpose of exhibiting the five newly discovered Skuldelev ships. In the late 1990s, excavations for the expansion of the museum uncovered a further 9 ships from the Viking Age. It is the largest discovery of prehistoric ships in Northern Europe and includes the longest Viking warship ever found, the excavations are not yet completed. The Viking Ship Museum has a tradition of Viking ship reconstructions and boat building. It is possible to follow or engage in the building process here. The shipyard is located on a small isle known as Museumsøen, every summer, a handful of boats are launched for extended seavoyages to accumulate more knowledge about the seafaring techniques and conditions of the Vikings
5.
Lejre
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Lejre is a town with a population of 2,415 in Lejre Municipality on the island of Zealand in east Denmark. The towns Old Norse name was Hleiðr or Hleiðargarðr, the municipality has an area of 240 km² and a total population of ca. The municipal seat is Kirke Hvalsø, Lejre was the capital of an Iron Age kingdom sometimes referred to as the Lejre Kingdom. According to early legends, this was ruled by kings of the Skjöldung dynasty, among other works of the medieval imagination that tell of adventures at Lejre, the best known is the fourteenth-century Icelandic Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. Archeological excavations undertaken since the 1980s have produced dramatic confirmation that medieval legends of Lejre, research teams led by archaeologist Tom Christensen of Roskilde Museum have uncovered the remains of an extensive Iron Age and Viking Age settlement complex just outside the hamlet of Gammel Lejre. Discovered here were the post-holes for a series of rectangular buildings measuring fifty to sixty meters in length or more. These must have been the halls of powerful magnates or kings, outbuildings and other structures whose remains were unearthed in this same area indicate that Lejre was also a center for crafts, commerce, and religious observances. The relative absence of weapon finds suggests that the site was important as a social. A noteworthy loose find that has turned up, thanks to metal-detector work, is a tiny silver Viking Age figurine known as Odin from Lejre. This is thought to depict the god Odin enthroned in majesty between ravens, speculations about the prehistory of the area have been fueled by Thietmar of Merseburgs account in his twelfth-century Chronicon that pagan sacrifices were formerly held every ninth year at Lejre. The centerpiece of the facility is an Iron Age village reconstruction, the center is open to the public. Ledreborg, a palatial Baroque mansion, also lies in the vicinity, land of legends Tadre Mølle Historical Reference from The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Chapter 17
6.
Bornholm
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Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of the westernmost part of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, dairy farming, tourism is important during the summer. There is a large number of Denmarks round churches on the island. The total area according to www. noegletal. dk was 588.36 square kilometres, the island is called solskinsøen because of its weather and klippeøen because of its geology, which consists of granite, except along the southern coast. The heat from the summer is stored in the rock formations, as a result of the climate, a local variety of the common fig, known as Bornholms Diamond, can grow locally on the island. The islands topography consists of rock formations in the north sloping down towards pine and deciduous forests, farmland in the middle. Strategically located in the Baltic Sea, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries and it has usually been ruled by Denmark, but also by Lübeck and Sweden. The ruin of Hammershus, at the tip of the island, is the largest medieval fortress in northern Europe. Bornholm Regional Municipality, established January 2003 by the merger of Bornholm County with 5 municipalities, Bornholm was one of the three last Danish municipalities not belonging to a county — the others were Copenhagen and Frederiksberg. On 1 January 2007, the municipality lost its county status. The island is situated between 54/59/11 and 55/17/30 northern latitude and 14/45 and 15/11 eastern longitude and it typically takes 3 hours for passengers and freight to travel between Rønne and Copenhagen via Ystad in Sweden. There is a ferry departure mostly reserved for freight of goods between Rønne and Køge, if there is capacity on a departure, normal passengers can come aboard. There are also routes to Sassnitz and Świnoujście. Between Bornholm Airport and Copenhagen Airport by airplane it is 25 minutes, the Ertholmene archipelago is located 18 kilometres to the northeast of Bornholm. These islands, which do not belong to a municipality or region, are administered by the Danish Ministry of Defence, many inhabitants speak the Bornholmsk dialect, which is officially a dialect of Danish. Bornholmsk retains three grammatical genders, like Icelandic and most dialects of Norwegian, but unlike standard Danish and its phonology includes archaisms and innovations. This makes the difficult to understand for some Danish speakers. However, Swedish speakers often consider Bornholmian to be easier to understand than standard Danish, the intonation resembles the Scanian dialect spoken in nearby Scania, the southernmost province of Sweden
7.
Copenhagen Municipality
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Their combined population stands at 763,908. The Municipality of Copenhagen is the most populous in the country with a population of 602,481 inhabitants, the municipal seat of government is the Copenhagen City Hall. The Lord Mayor of Copenhagen is Frank Jensen, since 2010, the relationship between Copenhagen Municipality and the wider city of Copenhagen is one of an administrative unit within a significantly larger city, cf. the City of London or the City of Brussels. In the Middle Ages, Copenhagen was defined as the area enclosed within the city walls, the city centre lies in the area originally defined by the old ramparts, which are still referred to as the Fortification Ring and kept as a partial green band around it. In 1856 the ramparts were pulled down allowing for growth and expansion, in 1901 the city expanded to include Amager and Valby, while Frederiksberg became an enclave within the municipality. The Finger Plan in the half of the 20th century led to expansion outside of the municipal boundary. Copenhagen Municipality was one of the three last Danish municipalities not belonging to a county, the others being Frederiksberg Municipality and Bornholm, on 1 January 2007, the municipality lost its county privileges and became part of Region Hovedstaden. Copenhagen Municipality is a division covering the central city and certain additional areas. It encloses Frederiksberg Municipality and stretches east to the waterfront, neighboring municipalities are Gentofte, Gladsaxe and Herlev to the north, Rødovre and Hvidovre to the west, and Tårnby to the south. The City Hall Square is the old centre of the city, from which an old shopping street leads northeast to Kongens Nytorv, christiansborg Palace, which houses the Danish parliament, is located on the islet of Slotsholmen. The municipality is divided into ten administrative, statistical and tax districts, the suffix -bro in the names Østerbro, Nørrebro, Vesterbro and Amagerbro should not be confused with the Danish word for bridge, which is also bro. The term is thought to be an abbreviation or short form of the Danish word brolagt meaning paved, the two figures for 1 February 1901 are before and after the municipality annexed some nearby parishes. The apparent decline since the mid-1900s are due to the figures not including the suburban and urban areas - notably Frederiksberg - outside Copenhagen municipality, Copenhagen Municipality is distinct from the wider Copenhagen urban area. The seat of Copenhagens municipal council is the Copenhagen City Hall, the council is chaired by the Lord Mayor—currently Frank Jensen—who oversees the civic duties of the fifty-five representatives of the council. The council usually meets every week at 17,30 on a Thursday. All members of the council are elected every four years, in the municipal elections in November 2013, the Social Democrats remained in first place with 27. 8% of the vote, while the Red-Green Alliance was in second place with 19. 5%. The Social Democrats have claimed the office of mayor for the past 110 years and it has six political committees and a finance committee. The annual budget for the city is proposed in August and finalized in October, the accounting firm Deloitte is responsible for auditing the City of Copenhagens accounts
8.
Roskilde Cathedral
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Roskilde Cathedral, in the city of Roskilde on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, is a cathedral of the Lutheran Church of Denmark. The first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick, it encouraged the spread of the Brick Gothic style throughout Northern Europe, constructed during the 12th and 13th centuries, the cathedral incorporates both Gothic and Romanesque architectural features in its design. Until the 20th century, it was Zealands only cathedral and its twin spires dominate the skyline of the town. The cathedral has been the burial site for Danish monarchs since the 15th century. As such, it has significantly extended and altered over the centuries to accommodate a considerable number of burial chapels. Following the Danish Reformation in 1536, the residence was moved to Copenhagen while the title was changed to Bishop of Zealand. Coronations normally took place in Copenhagens Church of Our Lady or in the chapel of Frederiksborg Palace, the cathedral is a major tourist attraction, bringing in over 125,000 visitors annually. Since 1995, it has listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A working church, it hosts concerts throughout the year. Roskilde was named the new capital of Denmark by King Harald Bluetooth around the year 960, moving to Roskilde, Bluetooth built a royal farm and next to it, a small stave church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Little is known of the Trinity Church, let alone its architecture, in Adam of Bremens Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, there is an account of how the kings son, Sweyn Forkbeard, raised a rebellion against him, forcing him to flee to Jomsborg. When Bluetooth died in 985/986, the army that had raised against him brought his body to Roskilde. At Christmas in 1026, Ulf the Earl was murdered by one of Cnut the Greats housecarls, though the sources differ, this happened either inside the church or at the royal farm. Ulf had been married to Cnut the Greats sister Estrid, who was outraged by the murder, there is some doubt as to when Roskilde became the seat of the Bishop of Roskilde. When Sweyn Forkbeard conquered England in 1013, he began sending English bishops to Denmark and this caused some conflict with the Archbishop of Hamburg, who regarded Scandinavia as belonging to the Archdiocese of Bremen. The earliest known bishop of Roskilde was Gerbrand, who had been a cleric with Cnut the Great, only after swearing allegiance to the archbishop was he allowed to continue his journey. The archbishop may have had reason to be suspicious, as documents of the time suggest that Cnut the Great may have planned to create an archdiocese in Roskilde. Funded by the weregild Estrid Svendsdatter had received, the old Trinity Church was torn down and this may have formed the base of the later travertine cathedral, but it is difficult to tell, as two cathedrals have subsequently been built on the same site
9.
Roskilde Festival
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The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in Northern Europe and it was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer. In 1972, the festival was taken over by the Roskilde Foundation, in 2014, the Roskilde Foundation provided festival participants with the opportunity to nominate and vote upon which organizations should receive funds raised by the festival. The Roskilde Festival was Denmarks first music-oriented festival created for hippies, and today more of the mainstream youth from Scandinavia. Until the mid-1990s, the festival attracted mostly Scandinavians, but in recent years it has more and more international. The first Roskilde Festival was held on August 28 and 29,1971 and it was inspired by festivals and youth gatherings like Newport, Isle of Wight and Woodstock. It was characterized mainly by poor management but also great enthusiasm, in 1978, festival organizers acquired the Canopy Scene, an orange musical stage previously used by The Rolling Stones on a European tour. Since its beginning, the Canopy Scene and its arches have become a well-known symbol. In the 1990s, electronic music was introduced to the festival, in 1991, Club Roskilde was held, which was an electronic music dance club held in the evenings. In 1995, electronic music artists received their own stage, in the following years, even more room for electronic music was created by the establishment of the chill-out zone and the Roskilde Lounge. Since then, artists like Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx, by the 1990s, the number of tickets offered for sale was restricted and later even reduced. Due to steadily increasing popularity of the festival, the number of visitors had increased to up to 125,000, in addition,90,000 tickets for about 25,000 volunteers,5,000 media people and 3,000 artists were added. In order to preserve the quality of the festival, the organizers decided to limit the number of participants. The distance from the rearmost part of the area to the stages of the festival management seemed to have become unreasonable. The festival had become so popular that the management decided in 1994 to expand the festival area to the west. The festival site was now on divided by the line into two parts. In 1996 was the festival had its own station, which should facilitate the arrival of visitors, in 1997, another tent called Roskilde Ballroom was built. The 2007 edition saw two new tents, replacing Ballroom which presented mainly World music, and Metropol which presented mainly Electronica, in 2010 two stages, Astoria and Lounge, did not return, due to a slight shift in focus towards fewer, but bigger bands
10.
Frederiksberg Municipality
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Frederiksberg Kommune is a municipality on the island of Zealand in Denmark. Part of Copenhagen, it is surrounded by Copenhagen Municipality and its mayor is Jørgen Glenthøj from the Conservative Peoples Party. The city of Frederiksberg is the town in the municipality. Frederiksberg is located as an enclave within the municipality of Copenhagen, the municipality was originally situated west of Copenhagen, but after a number of smaller municipalities were merged with Copenhagen in 1901, it became completely surrounded by Copenhagen. Frederiksberg was one of the three last Danish municipalities not belonging to a County—the others being Copenhagen and Bornholm, on 1 January 2007, the municipality lost its county privileges and became part of Region Hovedstaden. Frederiksberg municipality was not merged with other municipalities as the result of nationwide Kommunalreformen
11.
Greve Municipality
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Greve Municipality is a municipality about 21 km south-west of Copenhagen in Region Sjælland on the east coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 60 km², and has a population of 47,773. The site of its council is the town of Greve Strand. Greve Municipality was formed in 1970, as part of the kommunalreform of that year and it was established by combining the following parishes, Greve Hundige Karlslunde Karlslunde Strand Kildebrønde Mosede Tune. Greve municipality was one of the municipalities that was not merged with any others on 1 January 2007 in the nationwide Kommunalreformen, until the 1960s the area was primarily agricultural, and most businesses in town were concentrated along the coastal road Strandvejen. With numerous holiday cottages near the coast of Køge Bugt, this was also the destination for inhabitants of Copenhagen on holiday away from the hustle and bustle of the city. During the late 1960s and into the 1970s, many people moved out of Copenhagen. Around 1980 the S-train railroad network was expanded towards Køge, today, it serves primarily as a residential municipality, functioning as a suburb for the larger Copenhagen area. Municipal statistics, NetBorger Kommunefakta, delivered from KMD aka Kommunedata Municipal mergers and neighbors, Eniro map with named municipalities Official website Krak searchable/printable map
12.
Zealand
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Zealand is the largest and most populated island in Denmark with a population of 2,267,659. It is the 96th-largest island in the world by area and the 35th most populous and it is connected to Funen by the Great Belt Fixed Link, to Lolland, Falster by the Storstrøm Bridge and the Farø Bridges. Zealand is also linked to Amager by five bridges, Zealand is linked indirectly, through intervening islands by a series of bridges and tunnels, to southern Sweden. Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is located partly on the shore of Zealand. Other cities on Zealand include Roskilde, Hillerød, Næstved and Helsingør, the island is not connected historically to the Pacific nation of New Zealand, which is named after the Dutch province of Zeeland. In Norse mythology as told in the story of Gylfaginning, the island was created by the goddess Gefjun after she tricked Gylfi and she removed a piece of land and transported it to Denmark, which became Zealand. The vacant area was filled with water and became Mälaren, however, since modern maps show a similarity between Zealand and the Swedish lake Vänern, it is sometimes identified as the hole left by Gefjun. Zealand is the most populous Danish island and it is irregularly shaped, and is north of the islands of Lolland, Falster, and Møn. The small island of Amager lies immediately east, Copenhagen is mostly on Zealand but extends across northern Amager. A number of bridges and the Copenhagen Metro connect Zealand to Amager, Zealand is joined in the west to Funen, by the Great Belt Fixed Link, and Funen is connected by bridges to the countrys mainland, Jutland. Gyldenløveshøj, south of the city Roskilde, has a height of 126 metres, Zealand gives its name to the Selandian era of the Paleocene. Urban areas with 10, 000+ inhabitants, North Zealand Media related to Zealand at Wikimedia Commons Zealand travel guide from Wikivoyage
