Bandholm is a port city on northern Lolland with 499 inhabitants
(2020) eight kilometers north of Maribo. The city is located in
Lolland Municipality and belongs to Region Zealand.
From
Bandholm there is a ferry service to Askø. A little southeast of the
city is Knuthenborg Safari Park.
Bandholm is located in
Bandholm Parish, and Bandholm Church is located in the city. The
school in Bandholm was merged in 2005 with the schools in Østofte
(Nørreballe) and Stokkemarke at Østofte School six kilometers
southwest of Bandholm.
The port of Bandholm is already mentioned in history
in 1588, where a ship bridge was built. This year, the abbess of the
St. Birgitta Monastery in Maribo was promised that the port of
Bandholm would be a free port for the active monastery.
In
the 19th century, Bandholm harbor ranked among the most active ports
in Denmark. As something special, Bandholm and New York ports are
the only two ports in the world where fresh water sources jump into
the port basin.
Like many other cities in the province,
Bandholm has experienced a large population growth and later
decline. In 1840 Bandholm had 378 inhabitants, in 1860 770
inhabitants, in 1870 850 inhabitants, in 1880 767 inhabitants.
In 1850, Bandholm was hit by a major cholera epidemic. The fight was led by the young doctor Peter Ludvig Panum, after whom Panumsgade in Bandholm is named. Cholera first appeared in Denmark in 1848, when quite a few were infected in Dragør, so there was no epidemic. The first major epidemic broke out in 1850 in Bandholm, where Peter Ludvig Panum was responsible for keeping the epidemic down. 28 cases were found, of which 15 died.
The port city
of Bandholm gave its name to the boat type Bandholm, which was
manufactured by the Danish boat builder and boat designer Knud
Olsen. In 1961, Knud Olsen founded his own business in an old grain
warehouse at Bandholm Harbor.
In Bandholm, Knud Olsen started
building a 10-meter mahogany sailboat, but he soon became more
interested in the possibilities with fiberglass. The design became a
Bandholm 26, which, together with the Bianca 27 and Great Dane 28
built in collaboration with the Nimbus brothers, became the first
generation of Danish fiberglass boats. Only the hull was made of
fiberglass, as Knud Olsen thought the deck should be made of wood to
give the boat the right feeling.
Later, Bandholm 20 and
Bandholm 30 were added, which were replaced by Mariboat in the early
1970s. However, Bandholm 20 later came back in a shorter version,
now called Bandholm 24, and for the first time, Knud Olsen was able,
as the holder of the rights to the boat, to feed himself as a
designer.
Bandholm came in earnest in the nationwide media when the congregation Faderhuset in 2008 bought Bandholm Hotel, which since 1886 has been centrally located in the city. Faderhuset also bought several homes in Bandholm. In September 2019, the hotel was sold to Bandholm Hotel Holding, which has Peter Hauge as the company's director and Peter Bøgil as hotel director. The new owners wanted to run the hotel further, but chose Peter Bøgil to resign his position as director of the hotel and step out of the project. For several years in a row, the hotel has won the award as Denmark's best hotel.
The largest workplaces in the harbor city are Knuthenborg Safaripark,
Bandholm Hotel, DLG Bandholm, BM Lakering, Svanevig Hospice and the Askø
ferry.
Previously, Bandholm Skole was a larger workplace for
several people in the local area, but after the school amalgamation with
the schools in Østofte (Nørreballe) and Stokkemarke, Lolland
Municipality chose to demolish the school, even though the Faderhuset
congregation tried to buy the school.
In 1869, the Maribo-Bandholm Railway was inaugurated as the first
railway on Lolland-Falster. In Bandholm, a station was built close to
Knuthenborg's western gate. From the station the harbor railway
continued down to the harbour.
Passenger traffic was discontinued
in October 1952, when the line was laid under the Lollandsbanen. For
many years there was still freight traffic, and the tracks are not yet
out on the quays - the track ends at Havnepladsen. Since 1962,
Museumsbanen Maribo-Bandholm has operated Denmark's first veteran
railway.
The station building is located at Stationsvej 10. It
was listed in 1972 and in 1984 bought by the Dansk Jernbane-Klub, which
operates the veteran railway. Even the building has been the backdrop
for several well-known films and series such as Hurray for the Blue
Hussars, Badehotellet and Lykke-Per, among others.
Today,
Bandholm is connected to Maribo, Nørreballe and Kragenæs via buses, just
as there is a ferry connection to Askø from Bandholm Harbour.
The port city of Lolland is known for having one of the country's
oldest bathing facilities, which dates from 1870 and is located at
Bandholm Harbor next to the ferry berth for the Askø ferry. The bathing
facility consists of 16 cabins with two bathing bridges and a cross
bridge as well as a slide.
In 2016, with approval from the
Coastal Directorate, Bandholm built a larger sandy beach at the Bandholm
Hotel. It was Bandholm Aktivitetsforening that built the beach for the
enjoyment of locals and tourists. 8250 tons of sand were used to
establish the 100 by 50 meter sandy beach.
In September 2017,
European bison and wild boar were released into a large enclosure in the
Merritskov forest near Bandholm. It was Knuthenborg Safaripark, which
owns the forest, which, with support from the Danish Environmental
Protection Agency, was behind the project. If you go for a walk in the
forest, you can experience the bison bulls or the wild boars yourself.
Hvedemagasinet is the city's gathering place for cultural events
such as art exhibitions, lectures, flea markets, communal singing and
communal dining. As the name of the building suggests, it has previously
been used as a grain store.
The harbor in Bandholm is home to, among others, Bandholm Sailing Club and Bandholm Roklub. By Bandholm is Svanevig Hallen, where, among others, the Bandholm Badminton Club is based.