Nysted is a former market town - Denmark's southernmost - on
southeastern Lolland with 1,312 inhabitants (2020), located 27 km
east of Rødby, 24 km southeast of Maribo, 19 km south of Sakskøbing
and 18 km southwest of the municipal seat Nykøbing Falster. The city
belongs to Guldborgsund Municipality and is located in Region
Zealand.
Nysted belongs to Nysted Parish. Nysted Church is located in the middle of the city.
Nysted is located on the east side of Nysted Nor
opposite the castle Aalholm and has a natural harbor, the only one
on Lolland's south coast after the embankment of Rødby Fjord in
1878. 8-10 km outside the harbor is the sand bar Rødsand, and the
intermediate waters are shallow with many large rocks , so the
harbor has provided good protection for medieval ships, but today's
cargo ships cannot sail in there. Nysted Harbor is now mainly a
marina. Closest to the harbor there is a 20 m wide dug canal. The
water depth in the harbor and the channel is 3.7 m.
Nysted is
high by Lolland conditions. The highest point of the city at the
town hall is 12½ m o.h. Therefore, the city did not suffer nearly as
much damage from the storm surge of 1872 as other cities on the
Baltic Sea.
During the last ice age, the ice
weighed so heavily on Scandinavia that the earth's crust bulged
inward. This caused the crust in the areas around the ice, i.a. in
the area where Nysted is located, rose. When the ice disappeared,
Lolland was largely landlocked with present-day Germany, separated
only by a large and watery river that has now become the
Fehmarnbelt, Little Belt, Great Belt, etc.
At the same time,
the ice had left a landscape with thick moraine deposits (soil and
rocks), which had been picked up by the sliding ice along the Baltic
Sea region. In some places the deposition took place in the form of
large, flat plains (most of Lolland and Falster), while ice and
meltwater in other places made more dramatic landscapes (marginal
moraines, death holes, tunnel valleys, etc.).
In varying
depths below the moraine are large limestone deposits that have
formed in earlier periods, when the whole of Denmark was covered
with water. In Nysted, the limestone is close to the surface and has
been broken in several places. Nysted is located on the
southeasternmost part of a system of "hills" and lakes that stretch
obliquely across Lolland from Nysted over Maribo to Ravnsborg and
further out into the Småland Sea, where the islands are part of the
same system.
In the years after the ice had melted,
Scandinavia rose again, and similarly the Nysted area sank, so that
former settlements today lie at the bottom of the sea. The land
south of the present city "drowned" and left behind the landscape
one can see today.
A number of ancient graves around Nysted are known from before
historical times.
Nysted is not mentioned in King Valdemar's Land
Registry and undoubtedly only arose later around the royal castle
Aalholm and Nysted Franciscan monastery. The oldest parts of what is now
Aalholm are from the beginning of the 14th century. King Christoffer 2,
Valdemar Atterdag's father, is said to have been a prisoner on Aalholm
for a time with Count Johan of Holsten, to whom the king himself had
left Aalholm. Later, Christoffer moved to Nykøbing Falster, where he
died.
The city's inhabitants were considered peasants and served
under Aalholm Castle until Erik of Pomerania gave them their freedom in
1409 and at the same time gave the city its market town privileges,
which were confirmed in 1513. The city had trade and shipping,
especially on Rostock and Lübeck. In 1455, approximately 100 farms and
houses are said to have been destroyed by a large fire.
At the
latest from approx. 1300 Nysted was the natural center of the region and
the administrative center as a royal fief. The landscape around Nysted
was bounded by wetlands in the form of Flintinge Å/Sakskøbing Å to the
north and the Maribosøerne as well as (now drained) bogs at Vester
Ulslev to the west, so the whole area was a natural catchment area for
the town.
Nysted's harbor contributed significantly to the town's
maintenance. Already early on, there is evidence of the export of grain
and especially live cattle to Germany, as well as the import of beer,
wine, woven fabrics and other goods that were not produced in the
region.
The Franciscan monastery, which was located at the
eastern end of Klosterstræde, must have been founded in 1286 by the
owners of Kjærstrup and Kjelstrup, but otherwise very little is known
about it. In the monastery church, among others, Odense bishop Valdemar
Podebusk, died 1392, knight Anders Siundesen of Kjærstrup (1390) and
gray friar vicar Michael de Lyra (1483) were buried. In 1472, Laurentius
Brandere was given permission to reform the monastery, but it was not
until 1477, after much opposition on the part of the monks, that the
convention was brought to obedience. In Nysted, the Gråbrødre order had
its last place of refuge in Denmark after the Reformation; only in 1538
does the monastery appear to have been completely closed down.
In 1554 the priest Nic. The Wulf monastery's abild garden and hop
garden were donated, but otherwise the lands were laid down under
Aalholm Castle. The monastery's demolition was ordered in 1551 so that
the materials could be used for a castle that the king intended to build
in Nakskov. However, this was abandoned, and the bricks seem to have
been sent to Copenhagen and Kolding. In 1577, however, one more stone
house remained, which the king had demolished for use in construction
work on Aalholm.
In 1560, 200 farms and houses must have gone up
in flames during a new big fire. In 1641 and 1651 fires are also
mentioned. On 22 May 1654, 100 farms and houses burned down, after which
the citizens got great relief in taxes.
In this period, at least until the middle of the 19th century, Nysted
was fully on par with many other towns in Denmark. Nysted could still
benefit from its location on the Baltic Sea and throughout the years had
a small merchant fleet and some fishing.
In 1700, 14 November
1729 and in 1831 large parts of the city burned again. In 1750, Nysted
(Aalholm) Ladegård, which had been established by the monastery estate,
burned down. After it was rebuilt, it was later closed down and came
under Christiansholm. In 1672 the town had 691 inhabitants, in 1769 only
486 inhabitants.
Right up to 1740 there was a Latin school in the
town. It was small and fostered only a single known person. It was the
theologian Niels Hemmingsen (1513-1600) who was born in Errindlev
between Nysted and Rødby. He was a Danish theologian and studied 1537-42
at the University of Wittenberg, where he was a student of Philipp
Melanchthon. From 1553 Hemmingsen was professor of theology at the
University of Copenhagen and a well-known figure in the European
academic environment.
When the Latin school was closed down, the
building passed to the "Danske Christendoms Skole", which functioned
there and then in a neighboring building until 1852, when a new school
building was built next to the new town hall.
In October 1811, while Denmark was at war with England during the
Napoleonic Wars, the English had gathered a fleet of 120 cargo ships in
the Bay of Hanø off southern Sweden. They were to be escorted through
Danish waters by eight ships of the line and several smaller warships.
The English had bitter experiences with the Danish privateer ships,
which burst forth from the coast with lightning speed, boarded a cargo
ship and dragged it into port. On November 9, the convoy set off.
Between Falster and Rygen, ten cargo ships sank in a storm. On 15
November the fleet anchored off Nysted, south of Rødsand. The storm blew
up again and two ships sank, while twelve ships ran aground and became
Danish spoils of war. Also the liner St. George with over 800 men on
board ran aground. The rigging, mast and above all the rudder gave way,
but the ship recovered nicely and sailed on, only to be shattered,
together with another ship of the line, Defence, at Thorsminde in West
Jutland on 24 December 1811. Between 1,300 and 1,400 sailors and
soldiers drowned, only seventeen were rescued ashore. In 2002, the
rudder was found at Rødsand in connection with the establishment of the
Rødsand offshore wind farm. It is 11.5 m long and weighs 8.5 tons.
During the Anglo-Saxon Wars, two redoubts were built at Nysted. One,
at the entrance to Nysted Nor, can still be seen in the beach complex,
which today is called Skansen. The second redoubt is much smaller,
perhaps more of a hide for riflemen. It is located where the harbor
square starts. As far as is known, the redoubts were not used, but in
connection with the Schleswig wars they became relevant again for a
short time.
The Duchy of Holstein on the other side of the Baltic Sea belonged to
the Danish kingdom until 1864, so there was a need for travel routes
between the parts of the country. Twice Nysted spoke in this connection.
In 1804 it was decided to establish a ferry service with royal support.
However, a multitude of problems arose with equipment and personnel, but
also with sailing conditions. The result was that the ferry service was
discontinued in 1807 (perhaps also under the influence of the war with
England) and never started again since.
At the end of the 19th
century, people started talking about what is today called the
Fugleflugtslinjen. It was investigated whether the coast just east of
Nysted was a suitable place for a ferry port, but the answer was no.
Rødsand was once again in the way.
The early industrialization
Nysted's population was increasing in the late 1800s but stagnated in
the early 1900s: 1,082 in 1850, 1,227 in 1855, 1,261 in 1860, 1,336 in
1870, 1,438 in 1880, 1,414 in 1890, 1,411 in 1901, 1,457 in 1906 and
1,479 in 1911.
In 1875, Mette Christiansen's Foundation for 2
poor widows was established. In 1876, the Industrial and Craftsmen's
Association was established. In 1877, the Citizens' Association, which
had been established in 1863, built a foundation with 4 apartments at
Østergade 9. In 1880, a municipal real estate class was closed. In the
1880s, the brickworks in Klostermosen on the town's farmland was closed
down. In 1886, the town got a telephone connection. In 1883, an epidemic
house with 6 beds was established on Skansevej. In the same year,
Falsters Landbostands Sparekasse was established. In 1891, a high and
agricultural school was established at Munkestien 4. In 1893, a
Technical School was built at Smedestræde 6. In 1896, a new hospital in
Fiskergade with at least 12 beds was built; the same year the detention
center was built. Furthermore, a private secondary school was
established, which used the premises of the Technical School, as well as
a cooperative dairy and a steam sawmill. In 1899, the city had a weekly
steamship connection with Lübeck and Copenhagen.
In 1856, the
city had factories and industrial facilities including a lime kiln, a
shipbuilding plant and 5 brandy distilleries. In 1871 it had only 1
brandy distillery, but also a brickworks. In 1899, the town had a steam
mill, steam saw and planing mill, lime kiln, shipbuilding and
cooperative dairy (in the rural district).
In Nysted, markets
were held in March, April and September with horses and cattle, and in
November with horses.
The city's harbor was improved at the end
of the 19th century by deepening the meandering channel to 3.4 m, and a
mooring and berthing area for steamships was excavated. From the customs
accounts from the second half of the 19th century, it can be seen that
the imported goods mostly came from Copenhagen, Northern Germany, Norway
and Sweden. Goods such as iron, wine, spirits, hops, coffee, coal, tea,
cotton, silk, rice, household salt, syrup/sugar and wood were shipped to
the city. Grain and cattle are primarily shipped from the city.
The livelihoods of the population were in 1890: 156 lived from
intangible business, 514 from craft and industry, 239 from trade and
turnover, 42 from shipping, 62 were fishermen, 171 lived from
agriculture, 15 from horticulture, 157 from other professions, 40 from
their means , 18 enjoyed alms. In 1906, the population was 1,457, of
which 114 supported themselves by non-material activities, 166 by
agriculture, forestry and dairying, 106 by fishing, 649 by crafts and
industry, 210 by trade and more, 75 by transport, 66 were hawkers, 45
lived from public support and 26 of other or unspecified business.
In 1902, the college and agricultural school was closed down. An
acetylene gas plant to supply the city's street lamps with gas was
established. In 1904, the hospital from 1676 was closed down and
converted into an endowment. Toldboden, the later hotel, was built. In
1905, a trade school was established with evening classes in the
municipal school premises. In 1907, Marie Christiansen's foundation from
1875 in Søstræde (Slotsgade) was closed down and converted into an
endowment. In 1909, the poorhouse at Søndergade 18 was closed down.
In 1911, the school got a new building with a gymnasium, the
municipal secondary school was re-established in parts of the school
building from 1852, and the Skansepavillonen was moved to the Skanse
facility from Folehaven. In 1912, the Industri- og Landbrugsbanken in
Nykøbing established a branch in Nysted, and a new gas plant and
electricity plant were built. In 1913, a waterworks with a tower was
built. In 1917, a memorial was erected for the town clerk Holck in the
Skanse facility.
Denmark's first omnibus route was started on 17 September 1903
between Nysted and Nykøbing. The route was established by C.H. Fuglsang,
who formed the company Dansk Automobilselskab, which he had an ambition
to make nationwide. In addition to this route, the company got routes
including Copenhagen-Slangerup, Copenhagen-Dragør and Assens-Aarup, but
already in 1906 the company went bankrupt and most routes, including
Nysted-Nykøbing, were discontinued.
The first vehicle on the
route was a Maurer-Union which was built in Nuremberg and had an engine
producing 14 horsepower with only 380 cc of displacement. It cost DKK
4,500 and you had to pay DKK 1.50 for a return ticket between the 2
cities, which e.g. corresponded to more than 2 hourly wages for a female
teacher. The first driver was the 18-year-old Martin Fischer, who later
became Copenhagen's first driving instructor. The bus could hold 12
passengers but was very unreliable, so the farmers along the route are
said to have kept some horses on standby to assist in the event of a
breakdown. The route was chosen as a demonstration route because the
road is almost without hills and because at that time there was not yet
a railway on the stretch. The first bus was later replaced by a
Danish-built bus that was more comfortable, but no more solid.
Nystedbanen
Nysted was given a terminus on the
Stubbekøbing-Nykøbing-Nysted line of the Nykøbing-Nysted line
(1910-1966). In 1911, the post office was built next to the railway
station. As a terminus, Nysted had 3 continuous tracks, the outermost of
which had a connecting track to a two-track depot, turntable and coal
yard. In addition, there was a loading track with a bypass, a pig pen
and a plug track for the end ramp and warehouse. The station was located
north-east of the then town, and the track continued in a 1.8 km long
harbor line, which in a sharp turn with a radius of only 220 m and with
a steep elevation curve went east and south around the town and to the
harbor from the south. At the crossing south of the city near Skansen,
there was a platform for excursion trains with school children. The
station building, which was designed by the architect H.C. Glahn, is
preserved at Jernbanegade 24.
The interwar period
During the
interwar period, Nysted's population was almost stagnant: in 1916 1,536,
in 1921 1,642, in 1925 1,724, in 1930 1,716, in 1935 1,601, in 1940
1,511 inhabitants. No suburbs arose.
At the census in 1930,
Nysted had 1,716 inhabitants, of which 123 supported themselves by
non-material activities, 598 by craft and industry, 292 by trade etc.,
127 by transport, 201 by agriculture, forestry and fishing, 139 by
housework, 227 were out of business and 9 had not disclosed source of
income.
In 1918, the hospital was closed down and for a period
was used as homesteads. For a period it housed the English School. A new
building was erected for the cooperative dairy on the corner of
Jernbanegade and Østergade. Lollandske Brostens- og Skervekompanii had
approx. 30 employees. Wichmand's grocery store in Adelgade also traded
in fodder, lumber, grain, coal and castings and spread over a
considerable building complex, of which the buildings facing Adelgade
still stand and are used as a library, pharmacy and private residence.
The business also included a sawmill that employed 32 people and was
only shut down in 2006, but is back in business as of 2014. The town had
several such large combination businesses. M. Engelbredt
Beklädings-Magasin later became a factory for and importer of work
clothes. In 1919, 7 sailing ships and 1 motor ship were resident in the
city.
The town hall was expanded with premises in Adelgade 90
from 1920-1955. In 1921, the Maribo County Reception Home for Girls was
established with 70 places. The town had a tannery and printing house.
The police force consisted of 2 constables, 1 state constable, 1 land
constable and an arresting officer. All male citizens had to serve in
the fire brigade. The town had a weekly steamship connection with
Copenhagen. There were caught approx. 200 seals.
In 1926, Nysted
Kalk- og Krittværk with its own jetty was established for the production
of fertilizer lime and fodder chalk. In 1931, it was converted into an
asphalt factory, which produced 6,000 tons of asphalt mastic per year.
year.
In 1930, the Kampmann-Boysenske Kystsanatorium
(tuberculosis sanatorium) was built with room for 30 children.
In
1936, the public library was established in the old prison. In 1955,
when it had 3,300 volumes, it was moved to Adelgade 90. In 1938, the
hospital was converted into a retirement home.
After the Second World War, Nysted continued its stagnant population
development. In 1945, 1,637 inhabitants lived in the market town, in
1950 1,503, in 1955 1,420, in 1960 1,328 and in 1965 1,300. In the
parish, a smaller suburb was formed in connection with Adelgade.
In 1948, the retirement home was expanded to both north and south. In
1954, a larger extension to the school was put into use. In 1955, the
Arresthuset from 1896 was converted into a town hall, and a summer
hostel was established in the Technical School. The town had 3 banks:
Andelsbanken, Landmandsbanken and Lolland-Falsters Industri- og
Landbrugsbank. Around 1964, the school's attic was used as classrooms.
In 1969, the town had the following traders: 9 small grocers, 3
butchers, 3 bakeries, 2 bookshops, a tobacconist, a radio shop, a shoe
shop and a men's and a ladies' shop.
After the municipal reform
in 1970
With the municipal reform in 1970, the term "market town" was
abolished, but Nysted became the seat of the new Nysted Municipality,
which, in addition to the market town and its rural district (Vantore
Parish), included the parish municipalities of Døllefjelde-Musse,
Herritslev, Kettinge-Bregninge, Vester Ulslev and Øster Ulslev-Godsted.
approx. 1970: A pavilion was built at Nysted School, and a police
station was added in the former customs booth
1980: The first stage
of a new school was commissioned
1983: The retirement home was closed
down and the building sold to Nysted Efterskole
1986: The new school
was completed
2001: The school was expanded to approx. the double
2007: Nysted Municipality was closed down and placed under Guldborgsund
Municipality
2015: New tourist initiatives with, among other things
seal safari to Rødsand. Beds in the city were fully occupied during
almost the entire tourist season.
During the period, great
emphasis was placed on developing tourism in the area. A number of
summer houses have been built, and work is underway on a public sauna
and bathing establishment. Nysted lost a major tourist attraction when
the Aalholm Automobile Museum with one of Europe's largest car
collections had to close, and the cars were sold at auction in 2012-13.
The castle is closed to the public, but work is being done to develop
kayak and cycle routes in and around Aalholm Hestehave. The regional
cycle route 38 (Paradisruten) and the Margueritruten lead through the
city.
The town's commercial life now includes, in addition to a
larger number of craftsmen: 2 supermarkets, shop with hunting and
fishing equipment, sawmill, cinema, 2 hotels, 3 restaurants, 2
pizzerias, campsite, butcher, baker, optician, materialist/clothing
shop, 2 hairdressers, etc. . There are service functions such as
library, citizen service etc.
Up until around 1900, Nysted had a steadily increasing population. At
that point, development stalled. The ships got bigger so they couldn't
dock at the port. Railways and cars took over transport, and for them
Nysted was in a corner. The city lost a large part of its catchment area
to, above all, Nykøbing because of the bridges over Guldborg Sund.
Industrial development bypassed Nysted. Despite the general decline in
population in rural areas since the 1960s, Nysted has managed to
maintain its population since approx. 1975. Since 2014, the population
has again been slightly increasing.
Nysted has been plagued by
many extensive fires over time. It has this in common with a number of
other cities in Denmark. However, the information about the extent of
the fires must be taken with a grain of salt. Eg. it is stated that a
fire in 1560 destroyed 200 houses and farms. There were hardly that many
houses in the entire town at that time.
When the Stubbekøbing-Nykøbing-Nysted Railway was established, Nysted
was the terminus of the Nykøbing-Nysted line from 1910-1966.
Road
names
In Peder Hansen Resen's map Atlas Danicus, street names are
indicated in a large number of market towns.
Adelgade, is
Nysted's main street, and the name is known in many towns across the
country, possibly in the form Algade. The name means "the noblest
street" or simply "the main street". The rest of the streets were alleys
or paths.
Bomstræde: The town exit road to the east. The name is
old, but was temporarily replaced with Vantorevej. The country's market
town trade was previously protected by import and export duties and the
duties were collected at the city's "gates", which were perhaps just a
barrier or an invisible border.
Byfoged Holcksvej: A bailiff is
an executive official. In this context, a city bailiff was a mixture of
police chief, judge and mayor depending on which time we are talking
about. Until 1919, Nysted's town bailiff was appointed by the king and
was birch judge in Nysted Birk as well as head of the law enforcers,
which eventually consisted of a police officer, a land constable and a
watchman. Harald Julius Holck served as the penultimate city clerk from
26 March 1892 to 1 January 1917. From 1919 the positions were separated
and the mayor was from then on elected by the people. There is a
memorial stone for Holck in the Skanse facility
C. A. Hansens
Vej: Carl Adam Hansen was a doctor in Nysted from 1875, a member of the
city council for many years and a local history writer. He wrote i.a.
Nysted's history for the town's 500th anniversary in 1909.
Skovstræde: Before the 1850s, the market towns' land was divided into 2
portions. The central part was reserved for houses and small gardens,
and was often fenced off and always provided with customs booths (excise
booths) at the entrances. The outer part was called the field land, and
was agricultural land that could only be owned by the city's citizens.
Skovstræde led out to the town's farmland, the outermost parts of which
were called Nysted Forest. Skovstræde ended blind, which "Nysted Skov"
still does.
Wichmandsvej: Named after merchant B. Svend Wichmand.
His shop and office building in Adelgade today houses the town's
pharmacy and the library is housed in a grain warehouse, while another
warehouse, Bønnelyches Pakhus, is used for occasional exhibitions.
Wichmand took over the grocery store in 1883 after one of his relatives,
Chr. Bonnelyche, had gone bankrupt with it a few years before.
Aarestrupvej: is named after the poet Emil Aarestrup, who was a doctor
in Nysted, where he lived from 1827-1838
In the various editions of Trap's description of Denmark, one can
read that in 1855 and 1873 the town had a police force of 24 men and in
1899 12 non-uniformed men and an assistant. On a daily basis, the one
police assistant and his predecessors have been alone in the ordering.
The 24 men have been a kind of reserve that could be called upon in
dangerous situations. In 1923, the corps consisted of only 2 officers
(municipal police), 1 state officer, 1 land officer and an arrest
officer, which in reality was an expansion compared to the 19th century
staffing.
In modern times the force has been gradually reduced
and is now effectively decommissioned. Around 1969 there were still 2
police assistants and a land constable, approx. 1980 1 land officer and
1 police assistant, approx. 1990 1 land officer and in 2008 a few hours
of office time per week and otherwise service from Nykøbing Falster
(Sydsjælland and Lolland-Falster Police).
The Industrial and Workers' Association in Nysted was founded on 13
April 1868 on the initiative of the local doctor Lütken and began, among
other things, immediately to collect books for a library. In 1869 the
collection was 133 volumes, in 1885 there were 1000 and in 1900 there
were 1800 in the library, which was housed in the "Hotellet" (unknown
which one) with loans every Monday evening. The collection is
"essentially made up of Aesthetic Literature, but also several good
travelogues, Troels Lund's historical works and others", as Nysted
Krøniken's author, C.A. Hansen writes in 1901. The same source states
that in 1907 the association had 158 members and 20 ladies!
In
1919, Nysted City Council granted DKK 200 for the establishment of a
public library. This probably means that the municipality took over the
private book collection, which has probably been moved to the town hall
at the same time. In the following years, one of the library's managers
was Julie Helene Pantmann, who came to Nysted in 1934, when her husband
Rude Pantmann took up the position of head of the then Nysted
Købstadskomune.
On 22 December 1955, the library was moved from
the town hall to Adelgade 90 with a lending and reading room on the
ground floor and an archive and meeting room on the first floor. At that
time the librarian Magda Andersen, who was married to school inspector
Chr. Andersen. For a number of years, this building housed part of the
municipal administration. In the same year, the expenses for the library
are known to be DKK 2000. In 1958, it is reported that Mrs. Eli
Brønholt, who was also a teacher at Nysted School, leaves her position
as librarian.
When the municipality merged in 1970, the new
Nysted "large municipality" entered into a cooperation agreement with
the Central Library in the neighboring municipality of Nykøbing. It
includes, among other things, that rural areas are served by a book bus.
From 1975, the library's manager is Bodil Clausen. On 11 April 1980,
they moved from Adelgade 90 to Wichmandsgården on Vantorevej, the
farmhouse of a disused agricultural property, but in 1988 the library
moved to its current location in a listed building, a former warehouse
from 1807 in Adelgade, and at the same time Ellen Larsen took over the
management. She was replaced in 2006 by the current manager, Marianne
Mortensen.
In 1992, the library service in Nysted Municipality
cost DKK 1,039,000. On a national basis, the annual expenditure per
inhabitant DKK 377. In Storstrøm County the average is DKK 336, but in
Nysted municipality the library service can be run for DKK 192 per
person. year per inhabitant, which makes Nysted one of the country's
cheapest library municipalities. The same year, the book bus is
discontinued and borrowers throughout the municipality are directed to
use the library in Nysted. On the first of January 2007, Nysted
Municipality was included in Guldborgsund Municipality and the library
is from then on a branch of the Guldborgsund Libraries.
There may have been some form of teaching in Nysted Franciscan
monastery. It was closed in 1538, but already a few years later (before
1578) a Latin school was established in Adelgade 101. The Latin school
was closed in 1740 and a civic school was established in the building.
The school was later moved to Adelgade 103 and in 1852 a new school was
opened in Adelgade. Both 1911 and 1954 were built, in 1966 new rooms
were furnished in the school's attic and in 1970 a pavilion was erected.
Approx. In 1975, the 1852 building was demolished and the school's
oldest classes were transferred to Kettinge Skole. In 1980-1986, a new
school with seven grades was built on the outskirts of the city. It was
expanded to 10 grade levels in 2001 and now exists with nine grade
levels approx. 375 students.
Nysted Efterskole was established in
1977, and today it has approx. 130 students.
Nysted is one of Denmark's most well-preserved market towns and has
preserved its old town environment with several half-timbered houses and
older buildings in the old town quarter around the church. There is not
much industry in Nysted, which helps to create a calm urban environment.
The poet Emil Aarestrup's House is designed as a museum with objects
from Aarestrup's time and an exhibition about Aarestrup.
Clausens
Pakhus is a listed half-timbered building that was built in 1807 by a
local merchant. Today it is set up as a library. Close by is Bønnelyches
Pakhus, which was built in 1851. This building is also listed and is
used today for exhibitions. Nysted Pharmacy was built in 1755.
The Medieval Festival started in 2009 as a celebration of the city's
500th anniversary as a market town, and it was repeated in the following
years. A local association was set up to manage the festival. In 2014,
the festival collaborated with Nykøbing Falster Festuge and the Medieval
Centre, which had a special knight's tournament, on marketing the three
events as well as a discount for visiting several events. In December
2018, it was announced that a festival would not be held in 2019, as,
according to the association's chairman, "a break was needed to rethink
the concept". In November 2019, the board announced that the
association, and thus the festival, was closed. The market was
resurrected in 2021 and was also implemented in 2022.
Since 2008
there has been a Hajkutter Regatta with racing to Rostock. In addition,
the city has the Harbor Festival and the Poetry and Poetry Festival,
held at Aarestrups Hus.
During the summer season, on a seal
safari, you can experience Denmark's largest seal colony at Rødsand up
close. On the sailing trip you can also see one of the world's largest
offshore wind farms with 162 huge wind turbines.
On 20 November 2002, the Special Building Inspectorate stated about
Nysted's water tower: "The Special Building Inspectorate finds that the
Nysted Water Tower (1912-13 by architect Alf Jørgensen and engineer
Georg Jochimsen) has both the cultural-historical and the architectural
values that can justify conservation. The water tower is one of the
earliest water towers built in reinforced concrete and a fine example of
the use of this material at the time. The architectural design in the
form of a mixture of the neo-baroque with its curved forms and the
national romanticism in the tower finish is typical of the time and
aligned with the then perception of reinforced concrete as a plastic
material. The water tower is thus a good example of the period's attempt
to test the architectural possibilities of the material. [source
missing] The building vision is particularly attached to the design of
the entrance area, the water tank and the oxygenation stairs, which tell
about the function of the tower, as well as the fine timber construction
of the open roof structure."
The result was that the water tower
was protected in 2003. The tower was in a rather miserable state, but in
2011 was handed over to a private association, Foreningen Nysted
Vandtaarn, and restored on the outside. Currently, how the tower can be
used in the future is being investigated.
The association Nysted
Vandtaarn was founded on 15 October 2009. In September 2014 there are 77
paying members. The association's sponsors are Thorkild Høeghs,
Guldborgsund Conservation Fund, Døllefjelde-Musse Fordelingsudvalg and
Lollandsfonden.
During the summer period, there is access to the
water tower with a view of Nysted town for a small entrance fee.
Nysted's football club B 1990 plays at Nysted Stadium, where there is
room for 1,200 spectators.
In addition, there is a tennis club,
cross track, equestrian center, shooting association, rowing club,
swimming club, handball club and badminton club in Nysted or the nearest
upland towns.