Skælskør (also: Skjelskør) is an older market town with 6,455
inhabitants (2020), located in southwest Zealand almost halfway
between Næstved and Korsør. The city is located in Slagelse
Municipality and belongs to Region Zealand.
Skælskør is first
mentioned in 1231, in King Valdemar's Land Register, as Skælfiskør
which means "the town by the mussel beach". Therefore, since the end
of the 16th century, a mussel has been included in the city seal and
since the city coat of arms.
Among the city's and the
surrounding area's most well-known industries are e.g. Viminco,
Harboe Brewery and the food company Bähncke.
Skælskør, in King Valdemar's Land
Register called Skiælfiskør and Skelfiskør (by Skjelfisk = mussel),
is an old town and has been quite considerable in the Middle Ages;
it has thus stretched over a much larger area than now, especially
to the west, namely to the so-called "Helledegrøft", which must
originate from Henrik Emeltorp's fortification. On the other hand,
it has recently been extended to the east, where the former, 1806
burnt village Smidstrup was located. In the market town list in King
Valdemar's Land Register, the town is employed for a tax of 13 marks
of silver and must thus be assumed in size to have stood between
Vordingborg and Ringsted. The town belonged to Valdemar Sejr's
family property, and at the change after him it was outsourced to
Erik Plovpenning. When Christoffer I seized the throne after King
Abel's death, he found opposition from several sides, and among
other things he was fought by a German knight Henrik Emeltorp, who
occupied Skælskør and built a castle here in 1253 and fortified the
city. Christoffer attacked him here, but was for the first time
thoroughly repulsed; later, however, the alien adventurer had to
give up both castle and town, which must have suffered much during
these hostilities. In the spring of 1288, when Danehof was held in
Skælskør, Duke Valdemar of Southern Jutland had taken up residence
in the town. He had many enemies in the vicinity of the young King
Erik Menved, and Drost Peder Hoseøl made a bold attempt to seize the
Duke's person; to Sønderborg; also widow queen Agnes fell into the
hands of the enemies, but escaped by cunning. Later that year,
Skælskør, as revenge for the attack, was looted by the Norwegians
and the outlaws, on which occasion the town was almost completely
destroyed and the then royal court, "Hovgaarden", which must have
been just west of the cemetery, where it later rectory lay (1841 at
its construction foundations of old buildings were found), burned.
In 1300, Erik Menved held a peace meeting in Skælskør with the
Norwegian king Hakon. When Erik Menved's brother-in-law, the Swedish
king Birger Magnussen, had to flee to Denmark, Christoffer II
granted him, as the contemporary Erik chronicle tells, with two
lords and a farm at Skælskør, and "that farm was called Spikeborg",
it is said. Shortly after King Birger's death in 1321, another
Swedish prince, namely Birger's cousin Erik Valdemarsøn, claimed
Skælskør, claiming that both this town and many other estates
belonged to him as the son of Sophie, Erik Plovpenning's daughter,
Valdemar Birgersøn's queen. When Duke Valdemar was king, these
estates were also granted to him in 1327, but whether he really got
them and thus Skælskør in possession, is not known. Later, Skælskør
must have been granted to the Axelsønnerne or Thotters, among
others, until it came under the crown again in the middle of the
15th century. It is not known with certainty when the city received
its first township rights, but there is a copy of the rights from
1441. The oldest preserved confirmation is from October 25, 1483,
issued by King Hans.
From the above it can be concluded that
Skælskør in the Middle Ages has been a fairly respected town. It was
often visited by the kings, if for no other reason, then because in
those days it was the main crossing point for Funen. Also, the fact
that it has had two monasteries testifies to its significance in
Catholic times.
Very little is known about the location and history of these
monasteries. The Carmelite or Our Lady's Monastery, which Erik of
Pomerania founded in 1418, must have been located in the eastern
part of the city to the south, where the square "Marie Kirkegaard"
still resembles it. Little is known about it other than that in
1503, 1505, 1509 and 1514 in wills it was considered with gifts that
a brother Oluf was prior here in 1464, and that the priority was
last held by one of the more famous men of the Reformation,
Associate Professor Mourids Samsing, who later became parish priest
in Tjæreby. In 1532, the monks "because of their great poverty" left
the monastery and handed it over to Frederik I, who donated all the
buildings to the sheriff of Borreby, Johan Urne, with the exception
of the church, which was designated as a parish church for Skælskør.
But during the Count's Feud, Count Christoffer in 1534 gave the
monastery to the citizens of the town, in whose possession it seems
to have remained until its demolition, which took place from time to
time after 1550. After a somewhat uncertain account, Johan Friis has
obtained materials from the monastery for the main building on
Borreby. At about the same time, the monastery church also
disappeared, as it is undoubtedly to the accused, partly in
Christian III's letter of 1552, after which the citizens of Skælskør
had to demolish one half of the "monastery church" and use the
materials to improve their parish church and town hall. the other
half was to be used for construction work at Nyborg Castle, partly
in the same king's letter of 1557, when the citizens of the town
were allowed to break stones from "the old church for use in
improving the school", and Frederik II's letter of 1562, which
allowed the citizens to take bricks and lime in the same church
against clearing the square and using the gravel to improve the
plain roads outside the city. The church's original altarpiece is
perhaps the richly carved one that was later used in Boeslunde
Church. The second monastery, a Sortebrødrekloster, is really only
known from Frederik II's letter of 1570, which gave the city the
place where the monastery had stood. It can hardly have been founded
until after 1300 and may have had its place on Algade. It has been
assumed that the monks referred to the town's church, and that the
choir chairs in it are a reminder of this.
Around 1525, a
kikelade was erected next to St. Nicolai Church. After 1537 it was
converted into a Latin school, and the Old Latin School still
stands.
The town had suffered much during the medieval wars;
also The Black Death had ravaged it (a quantity of corpses, which in
1843 was found in the eastern part of the town in Algade, could
perhaps be attributed to this epidemic), and it had declined
greatly. But by the end of the Middle Ages, it seems to have risen
somewhat again, especially with considerable trade in grain and
German beer. In 1488, the town was granted duty-free access
throughout Denmark except Skanør, at the same time agriculture
increased partly by cultivating the lands that had been laid waste
during the medieval wars, and partly by clearing the forests with
which the town was then surrounded.
The significant benefits in the Seven Years' War indicate that it has been quite wealthy (in 1565, like Korsør and Slagelse, it provided 400 rigsdaler, although the citizens had been reduced due to a city fire), and by the princess tax in 1596 Christian IV's sister, Princess Augusta's attachments with Duke Johan Adolf of Gottorp employed Skælskør to 100 rigsdaler, while of Zealand cities only Copenhagen, Helsingør and Næstved had employees higher. The wars of the 17th century, however, again brought the city to a standstill, especially the Karl Gustav wars of 1658-60, which weighed heavily on its war contributions and accommodation, and it soon had to give way to neighboring towns.
By the ordinance on the market towns of 28 January 1682, Korsør and Næstved were granted the right to foreign trade, while the same right was denied to Skælskør, which by the ordinance is mentioned among the market towns which may only have one town bailiff and no magistrate. In 1672 the town had 617 inhabitants, in 1769 589 inhabitants and in 1801 567 inhabitants. The town developed into an important trading post for Southwest Zealand with lively shipping and home to several large grocery farms. In the 19th century, several enterprising craftsmen and merchants came to Skælskør and they greatly influenced the town.
It did not begin to grow until the middle of the 19th century, probably due to a deepening of the fjord and the improvements at the harbor, while the railway connection probably hardly gained much importance.
There are two schools in the town; Skælskør School and Eggeslevmagle
School. They have a number of pupils of 310 and 748 respectively, i.e.
the total number of primary school pupils at the city's two schools is
1058. Eggeslevmagle School accepts pupils from Boeslunde School in 4th
grade and from Kirkeskosvsskolen at Bøgelunde, Agersø and Omø Schools in
7th grade.
The nearest offers for high school education
opportunities are in Slagelse and Næstved, which are the following:
Slagelse Gymnasium, Næstved Gymnasium and Herlufsholm Gymnasium.
In 1481, a Latin school is mentioned in the town. Today it is
defunct; but the building from the beginning of the 16th century is
still in Gammelgade.
The town had perhaps 2 monasteries, a Carmelite
monastery - Our Lady's Monastery - and possibly a Black Brothers
monastery. During recent excavations in Algade of Our Lady's Klosters
cemetery, they found, among other things, a cross from Limoges in France
from the 13th century - the "Scale Crucifix" - a unique find.
The
town's church is called Skælskør Church or Skt. Nicolaus Church and is
from the beginning of the 13th century. Up against the church wall is
the redwashed Skælskør Latin School from 1748 and on Gammeltorv at the
church entrance is Skælskør old town hall, detention center and police
station from 1896.
The old steam mill on the harbor was built in 1853
by N. M. Harboe, it is today painted yellow and refurbished and known
for housing a dental clinic. The building is today listed like so many
others in Skælskør.
Skælskør Folkehøjskole was established here in
1973 and functioned until 2005. The high school's building complex,
designed by Fællestegnestuen by Tyge Arnfred and Viggo Møller-Jensen, is
dramatically located on the coast and still exists.
Konservative
Ungdom's log house Guldberghus, which was built by the association's
members in 1934 and later used for training resistance fighters during
the Second World War, is located on Rypevej by Kobæk Strand outside
Skælskør.
Skælskør City Museum is housed in Peder Reedtz' Gård, which was built
at the end of the 16th century. The old Latin school is used by the
museum for a classroom.
Denmark's Bus Museum is run by
Bushistorisk Selskab, which has its headquarters in the city. Bus trips
are often arranged that are coordinated with either sailing with
Skjelskør V or with other activities. The company has 7 buses available;
two of the buses are from the 1930s, 1 from the 1950s, 1 from the 1960s,
and 5 from the 1970s.
The city's cinema, Kosmorama, has existed
since the early 1900s and today has one floor.
Music and theatre
Skælskør has its own festival Rod i Rocken, which takes place in
Skælskør Lystskov. When Rod i Rocken ran into financial problems, the
town's brewery Harboe stepped in and gave support to the festival. The
festival's motto is Denmark's "Næstsmukkeste" Festival.
The
theater association Vindebroen has staged theater performances at
Borreby Castle for several years. From 2011 to 2012, a permanent theater
called Borreby Theater was built. The theater is managed by Joachim
Castenschiold, who also owns the castle. Vindebroen has so far performed
the plays; The Baroness from Benzintanken, which was originally filmed
at Borreby. In addition to theatre, Vindebroen also has, among other
things, arranged gospel concert with Etta Cameron in Skælskør Church and
concert with Anne Linnet.
The children's bird shooting is a
165-year-old tradition that was started in 1847 by a group of the town's
men, as an offer for boys during the long summer holidays. In 1972,
Skælskør Marineguard was founded and became part of the program and has
taken part in the procession ever since. In the past, however, there has
also been music in the procession. The event is held every year in week
30 and starts in the morning in Sterlings Gård where the procession then
marches with music through the city's streets and out to Lystskoven
where the shooting takes place.
Park, forest, lake and beach
The city's park is located in the eastern city, close to the newly
renovated apartments on Parkvej and the international ceramics center
Guldagergård, whose main building was designed by the architect Johannes
Martin Olsen. The park is decorated with various works from the ceramics
centre, e.g. three large lizards placed on an artificial island out in
the middle of the park's lake.
Skælskør Lystskov is the gathering
place for the city during several of the year's major events such as;
the Rod i Rocken festival, Bird shooting and the summer holiday scheme
for children, Fede Feriedage. The forest lies along Skælskør Nor and has
a huge clearing in the middle of the forest, where most of the events
take place and where Skælskør Hostel is located.
The town's
nearest beach is Kobæk, which is 3 kilometers outside the town sign.
There is a large summer house area, the Kobæk Conference Center and the
restaurant Kobæk Caféen.
Sailing with "Skjelskør V"
Since
1885, there have been ferry and tourist sailings in Skælskør Fjord. From
1885 to 1962 there was sailing between Skælskør, Agersø and Omø. The 15
meter long tourist boat "Skjelskør V" offers a 6 km. a long trip in the
inner fjord and a sail out of the fjord, along the coast and out to the
Great Belt Bridge. The former steamer "Skælskør III" which operated in
the years 1915-1962 has now been renovated and sails today in Roskilde
Fjord, still as a tourist boat.
Trams and vintage trains
The
local veteran train club "Omstigningsklubben", which was formed in 1973,
ran from 1975 with trams on the section between the depot at the disused
Skælskør Station and down to the harbour. The club had taken over old
trams from Copenhagen and restored them. However, running on the track
ceased in 2011 when the local brewery, Harboe, bought and took over the
station grounds and the rails were taken up so that the path to
Fodsporet could be asphalted. The club's trams have now been taken over
by the Skjoldenæsholm Tramway Museum.
Skælskør has several different sports facilities and clubs. Skælskør BI football club is based at Skælskør Stadium. Skælskør Hall has, among other things, a climbing wall where Crux - Skælskør Klatreklub has organized several Danish championships. In addition, there is the Skælskør Badminton Center, where Team Skælskør Slagelse plays.
Nina Hole, ceramicist
C.C. Hornung, joiner and piano builder
Vilhelm Topsøe, author and journalist
Andreas Bjørn, merchant
Carl
Møller, painter
Jørgen Emil Thers, athlete
Børge Nagel, architect
Henrik Brodersen, politician for the Danish People's Party
Pernille
Rosenkrantz-Theil, politician for the Social Democrats
Whigfield,
singer and producer
Jasper Ritz, TV presenter
Jacob Pind, Football
player (U-national teams and HB Køge)
Alex Høgh Andersen, actor