Faaborg or Fåborg is a market town with 6,988 inhabitants (2020)
on the south coast of Funen by Faaborg Fjord. The city is the
largest city in Faaborg-Midtfyn Municipality and belongs to the
Region of Southern Denmark.
Faaborg is located between hills,
and in the waters off are the many small islands in the Funen
Archipelago. The city has many old well-preserved houses and a
well-preserved environment in the city center.
From Faaborg
there are ferries to Avernakø, Bjørnø, and Lyø, as well as Søby on
Ærø. Previously, there was also a ferry to Mommark on Als, that
route was replaced by Bøjden-Fynshav in 1967. There has also been a
ferry connection to Gelting in Germany, which was closed in 1999.
The town houses Faaborg Gymnasium and several schools. In
Faaborg is the Faaborg Museum of Funen Painting and the Archipelago
Museum, which runs a museum in the old grocery store by the harbor
and the Law and Punishment Museum in Faaborg Arrest
Faaborg is a port city on the Danish South Seas. On the northern edge of the city is the lake and the Sundet nature reserve. The city is located south of the Svanninge Bakker, part of a hilly nature reserve, the Fünsch Alps. South of the city of Faaborg is the Horne Land peninsula.
Faaborg is
mentioned for the first time in 1229. The occasion was the donation
of the city by King Waldemar (also Waldemar the winner) to a
Portuguese princess Eleonore (not to be confused with the princess
of the same name, who married the Habsburg Frederick III in 1452),
who married one of his sons. The name of the city is a bit unclear,
but it probably means Foaborg or Fuchsburg.
Until the
beginning of the 19th century, the hills to the north of the city
were covered with heather, while the valleys were used for
agriculture. When agriculture and livestock farming were no longer
profitable, forests were planted.
Culture and sights
The
old town of Faaborg is one of the best preserved in Denmark.
Particularly noteworthy is the free-standing bell tower of the old
town church St. Nikolai, which was abandoned and demolished after
the Reformation in favor of the monastery church of the Holy Spirit
as the new parish church.
The Faaborger city gate Vesterport
is one of only two surviving city gates in Denmark; the other is in
Stege on the island of Møn.
The Faaborg Museum, inaugurated
in 1915, with the collection of the canning company Mads Rasmussen
is well worth a visit. It includes paintings and sculptures mainly
by Funen artists such as Peter Hansen, Fritz and Anne Syberg,
Johannes Larsen, Poul S. Christiansen and Kai Nielsen. In addition,
there are temporary exhibitions with contemporary artists.
A
few kilometers west of the city is Hvedholm Palace.
Skjerninghøj north of the village of Svanninge is a well-preserved
megalithic complex of the funnel beaker culture.
Transport
and infrastructure
Road 8 runs through Faaborg from Tønder to
Nyborg, and road 43, which connects the city with Odense, begins
here.
Faaborg is the starting point for ferries to the
islands of Ærø, Avernakø, Lyø and Bjørnø. From 1965 to June 30, 1999
there was a ferry line to Gelting in Schleswig-Holstein. Via the
southern Horne Land with the ferry port Bøjden, Funen is connected
to the island of Alsen by the ferry port Fynshav.
Faaborg
used to be a railway junction. This is where the Odense – Nørre
Broby – Faaborg Jernbane from Odense (closed in 1954), the Svendborg
– Faaborg Bane from Svendborg (closed in 1954) and the Nyborg –
Rings – Faaborg Bane (passenger traffic in 1962 and goods traffic in
1987) met. In 1988, the section between Faaborg andringen, which
runs through the Pipstorn, was taken over by the Syd Fyenske
Veteranjernbane museum railway, which has been operating museum
railway operations in the summer months since May 28, 1992. In 2002
the last train ran the entire route, the trains then ended in
Corinth (Fyn). In 2011 the section between Corinth andringen was
dismantled, and the railway embankment has been a cycle and footpath
ever since. The former train station is the city's central bus
station.