Silkeborg is a city in Central Jutland with 46,923 inhabitants
(2020). A large number of inhabitants from Virklund, Gjessø,
Sejs-Svejbæk, Grauballe, Skægkær, Sinding and Sejling work in
Silkeborg. The town is the capital of Silkeborg Municipality and is
located in very hilly terrain in the Central Jutland highlands with
forested hills and with the river Gudenåen close to the inner city.
There are scheduled boats to Silkeborgsøerne and Himmelbjerget from
the town's small harbor, and the old steamship Hjejlen is the most
famous.
Silkeborg is a station town on the railway line
Skanderborg and Herning. The city is located in the Central Jutland
Region.
Museum Silkeborg is located in Silkeborg Manor, which is the oldest
building in the city. The museum contains a historical collection with
finds from the Viking Age, the Middle Ages, Silkeborg Castle and the
Tollundman, which is probably the museum's most famous attraction.
Silkeborg Archive has photographs, historical documents and much more
from Silkeborg and the surrounding area.
With over 30,000 works
by more than 600 Danish and international artists from the 20th and 21st
centuries, Museum Jorn houses one of the country's absolute largest art
collections. In addition to changing collection presentations, the
museum shows international special exhibitions of high quality. At the
museum you can, among other things, see major works by Asger Jorn
(1914-1973), such as the post-war avant-garde's iconic painting
"Stalingrad. The place that is not or the mad laughter of the mind"
(1956-1972) or the 13 m long tapestry "The Long Journey" (1959). Museum
Jorn also contains a number of artist archives, i.a. by the painter Per
Kirkeby (1938-2018). The museum puts the exhibited art into perspective
through a series of audience-oriented activities. Since 1982, the museum
has had an address on Gudenåvej in a building complex of over 2,500
square meters designed by Niels Fritiof Truelsen. In 2017, almost
100,000 guests visited the museum.
Another place where you can
experience art exhibitions in Silkeborg is the Art Center Silkeborg Bad
on Gjessøvej. Silkeborg also has an active artist community, which
includes the artist group Silkaden with, among others, Leif Dræby.
AQUA Akvarium og Dyrepark contains a freshwater aquarium which, when
it opened in 1993, was Europe's largest. In 2016, it was visited by over
100,000 guests.[19] Just south of here is the Wetland Arboretum, which
specializes in trees that grow in wet or very humid environments. The
tour boat Hjejlen sails on the Silkeborg Islands, which is the world's
oldest steamship that is still in operation. The paddle steamer dates
from 1861. It is operated by the Hjejleselskabet, which has several
other ships that make trips on the lakes, including the Rylen from 1948.
There are still foundations from Silkeborg Castle, which was demolished
in 1726.
The area where the old paper factory was located is
today included in the city's cultural center with, among other things,
the Jysk Music Theatre, cinema, cafes, paper museum, fitness center and
concert venue in the renovated factory buildings. The latter is arranged
in what used to be the factory's boiler house.
Galerie Moderne
exhibits modern art. Hold the Silkeborg revue every year and every
approx. every three years there is the Silkeborg Ildfestregatta. The
Riverboat Jazz Festival is held once a year and focuses on jazz.
Outside Silkeborg lies Ørnsø, where the Arnakkekilden originates. Lysbro
Skov is almost completely surrounded by the Silkeborgsøerne just south
of most of the city. The lady's bench is a viewing bench in the forest.
Silkeborg old town hall was built in 1857 in historicist style.
Today it is protected and houses the city's tourist office.
Sport
Silkeborg Sports Association was founded in 1917 and the football
department, Silkeborg IF Football, plays at JYSK Park (formerly Mascot
Park).
There are also several different sports clubs, including
Bjerringbro-Silkeborg Elite Handball, Silkeborg-Voel KFUM, Silkeborg IF
Cykling, Silkeborg Kayak Club and the orienteering club Silkeborg OK,
which held the WC in orienteering in 1974.
There are several
sports facilities; Silkeborg Atletikhal opened in 2010 and offers to
train e.g. long and high jump, the cycle track in Silkeborg, JYSK Arena,
Jyllandsringen and Søholt Sports Complex - East
Many signs have been found that people lived before BC. in the Silkeborg area. The most obvious signs have been the bog elves Ellingpigen, Tollundmanden and Grauballemanden, all of which are dated to the years 200-400 BC.
The name, 1470: Sillkæborgh, 1488: Silkijborgh - and the castle that lay there, is first mentioned in the beginning of the 15th century, when Silkeborg was owned by Hr. Laur. Hvas to Ormstrup, who had got it with his 2nd wife Thore, daughter of Erik Mus, who had owned the estate and apparently built the castle on a plot which, strangely enough, did not belong to him, or which at least Alling Kloster claimed . Mrs. Thore, however, already in 1414 transferred Silkeborg to the cathedral in Aarhus (the same year she also donated to the bishop's chair her and her children's estates in Vester- and Øster-Kejlstrup in Hids Herred), but as the gift did not rely on any deed or formal gift certificate, and the transfer had taken place without the will of the husband or relatives, the bishop of Aarhus Bo had to make do with the promise for the time being. As early as 1418, however, the bishop, in order to secure possession, got a gastric exchange with Alling Kloster, who, as mentioned, thought he was the owner of the land; at the change of stomach, the bishop's chair, in addition to Remstrup and Remstrup Fang, also got "the place that Silkeborg stands on". After Laur. Hvas' death, the bishop of Aarhus Ulrik Stygge began new negotiations with Mrs. Thore, who in 1433 exchanged estates and sold to the bishop her and the family's estate in Linaa Parish, and in 1436 she and her second husband Ove Ovesen (Kaas) confirmed to Lerbæk, whom she had married meanwhile, the gift of Silkeborg to the church. In order for the church to come into quiet possession of the estate, however, the relationship had to be arranged partly to Alling Kloster, who made difficulties with regard to the change of stomach of 1418, and partly to Laur. Hvas ’children, which, however, only ended when Erik Hvas, with the consent of sisters Kirsten and Birgitte, deeded their share in Silkeborg Estate to the episcopal see, a property right confirmed in 1489 by King Hans; with Alling Kloster, the matter was not settled until 1532, when a "final end and decision" was made about Remstrup and Remstrup Fang with more land. The bishops of Aarhus greatly appreciated the possession. Right from 1436 they had appointed an official or commander (the first was the above-mentioned Ove Ovesen; however, already in 1433 a nobleman Arild Svendsen is mentioned at Silkeborg; in 1464 Erik Christiernsen (Fasti) was chief, 1488 Joach. Lykke, 1490 Oluf Munk); the original castle they probably immediately demolished and replaced with a far more substantial castle; they collected a lot of goods for it and probably stayed there often; the two penultimate Catholic bishops Ejler Madsen Bølle and Niels Clausen both died there in 1501 and 1531 after some years before having resigned their offices and reserved Silkeborg Castle for life.
When Johan Rantzau was sent out in 1536 to take possession of the episcopate for the Crown, the episcopal commander at Silkeborg Hans Stygge resisted and refused to surrender the castle without a command from Bishop Ove Bille, and when he refused, he was imprisoned like the other bishops. . Silkeborg now became a royal county and seat of a sheriff until 1660.
After 1660, Silkeborg County was formed. The farm
and the estate itself were deeded by the king in 1664 to the wine
bar in Glückstadt Christian Fischer for the fortification he had
made to the government in 1658 and the following years in the war,
subject to redemption. Later the property passed to his brother
Daniel Fischer and his son Christian Fischer to Allinggård,
Gravballegård and Vinderslevgård, from whom Frederik IV redeemed it
in 1720 and laid it out as an equestrian district, while the farm
was interrupted; the king must have donated the materials from the
castle to Count Friis (Frijsenborg) in order to "build up" Favrskov.
But then the castle had already been ruined for some time.
After the estate had been transferred to the equestrian district,
the other buildings were so dilapidated that it was decided to
demolish them in 1726; at an auction this year, the remaining
masonry was sold along with "a large and high piece of stone wall or
tower... now called the stone house," and everything was leveled
with the ground. However, the ground of the main building remained
until Hoff erected the later "main building" west of the river at
Østergade (a storey with two low, angular towers at the corners and
a frontispiece in the middle of the facade) partly of stone from
there, just as the paper mill's foundations were laid. material from
the castle plot.
Silkeborg County was abolished in 1793.
At the sale of the equestrian estate in 1767, rhythm master Hans
Hoff bought Silkeborg with an adjoining 24½ barrel hartkorn main
farm rate, 212 td. htk peasant estate, 22 td. forest debt and 17 td.
mill debt for 38,000 rd. D. C. and erected the main building (the
half-timbered barns burned in 1777 and were rebuilt of foundation
wall); 1790 the property went for 60,000 rd. over to the son county
judge Henr. Muhle Hoff, who immediately began selling the estate;
finally he sold in 1804 the main farm with 10 farms and some houses
and forests (about 5000 acres of land) as well as the royal and
church tithes of Linaa and Them Parishes for 200,000 rd. D. C. to
Rhythm Master H. Halling and War Commissioner H.P. Ingerslev, which
in 1805 became the sole owner. He sold Silkeborg in 1814 to war
councilor Aastrup in Randers for 300,000 rd. silver and 300,000 rd.
banknotes, but the trade went back in 1817, and Ingerslev kept
Silkeborg until it at a forced auction in 1823 for 143,000 rd. was
taken over by the Treasury, which leased it out.
Judge Hoff
had already had the idea of constructing a small market town or
charging station on the site and making the river navigable for
barges, and also from the other side it was made, thus by Colonel
Brock, customs inspector in Randers, who at the government's
initiative had examined the Gudenåen in 1799 to see if it could be
made navigable to Randers. Also suggested by H.P. Ingerslev a
waterway from Silkeborg to Aarhus (through Remstrup river, Brassø,
Borresø, Julsø, Birksø, Knudsø, Ravnsø, Venge lake, Petersø,
Gammelgaard lake, Taastrup lake and Brabrand lake and Aarhus river),
a plan which, however, was declared by the government too
impractical. Again in 1836, the plan for a trading post on the spot
appeared, put forward by estate inspector, Justice Bindesbøll, who
together with Johs. I. Brun til Brunshaab had intended to lease the
hydropower at Silkeborg for the construction of a garment factory,
and in March 1840 Bindesbøll submitted a motivated proposal for a
trading post 'construction to Christian VIII, when Silkeborg,
according to the royal rescript of 7 February 1840, had been
declared domain. The king himself had great interest in the case,
especially after a visit to Silkeborg in the summer of the same
year. However, the idea was only realized when the brothers Chr. and
Mich. By royal resolution of 16 February 1844, Drewsen was able to
build the paper mill, authorizing the rent chamber with this
resolution to leave them the necessary hydropower and land for the
factory, whereby all the lands of the main farm were leased to them
for 50 years, subject to the obligation to to cede part of the lands
to a trading post. At the inheritance deed, the Brothers Drewsen are
handed over: 1) a plot of land on the east side of Gudenåen with
buildings, including Silkeborg Watermill, of mill fault 17 td., 2)
Stampeholm with building and a smaller plot of land on the left
bank, 3) Hydropower at Silkeborg ladder with lock fishing, subject
to 20 horsepower with space for an ironworks, as well as the
necessary water for the construction of a canal lock (the total
hydropower was 150 horsepower), 4) Fishing in streams, lakes and
water bodies within the boundaries of the hereditary attachment; all
against an annual tax of 840 rigsdaler for 10 years, 1440 rigsdaler
for the next 10 years, and there after 2,500 rigsdaler. At the
establishment of the trading post, the so-called Vestermark of about
250 td was handed over by the domain. land and about 50 td. land
meadow of the main farm field. In 1853 a large part of these main
farm lands was parceled out. Finally, in 1873, DKK 68,000 was sold
to the factory's then owner Strøyberg farm with its buildings,
Østmarken, some meadows, etc., a total of about 100 td. land, so
that the state domain there after consisted only of the forests.
Following a proposal from the Rentekammeret on 29 June 1844 for
the establishment of a trading post, a commission was set up, which
after some meetings held in Silkeborg in August 1845 on 2 September
1845 made proposals in which it emphasized the place as favorable
for the emergence of a market town, mainly due to its central
location in Jutland and by the country's only navigable watercourse,
but nevertheless recommends that it be provisionally restricted to
the construction of a trading post, which was established by
resolutions of 15 December 1845 and 8 January 1846. In the first
years the development was only small: before the factory's
construction in 1844 there were about 30 people on the later
municipality plot, in 1850 there were 499. But with 1854, when the
place got its own birch judge, and in 1855, when it got its own
municipal council and became its own parish. , and after the
Silkeborg Medical District was established in 1856, the material
recovery began; In 1855 the town had 1,204 inhabitants, and in the
following years it progressed rapidly, though also the money crisis
of 1857 hit the town so much harder as its merchants for the most
part were younger men who had begun without great capital. The
improved means of communication contributed in particular to the
progress: in 1853-56 the Silkeborg-Herning country road was built,
in 1854 the dam was built over Silkeborg Langsø, over which the
country road through Hids Herred, Silkeborg's most important
catchment area, to Viborg was built in 1855-60, just as the other
roads gradually improved and was extended, and the canal road to
Randers was regulated; also the railway, which was built in 1871,
benefited it greatly (in its construction an agricultural
association founded in the town in 1861 took an active part). In
particular, the industrial enterprise grew. For a long time,
however, the city occupied a strange intermediate position between
the market town and the parish. Already in the parliamentary session
1856-57, a draft law was submitted to make it a market town, but it
did not pass; only by the law of April 7, 1899, the city was
elevated to a market town from January 1, 1900.
Silkeborg's
population was increasing in the late 1800s and early 1900s: 556 in
1850, 1,204 in 1855, 1,775 in 1860, 2,338 in 1870, 2,931 in 1880,
4,217 in 1890, 7,228 in 1901, 7,803 in 1906 and 8,792 in 1911.
Straight streets were laid out at right angles.
Factories
and industrial plants existed around the turn of the century: the
paper mill (built in 1844, opened January 1, 1845, burned in 1864
and rebuilt, 1869 sold to Strøyberg, March 1, 1889 incorporated into
Aktieselskabet "De forenede Papirfabrikker" and then temporarily
stopped, but put back started in 1894; The factory, whose large
building complex, consisting of the large factory buildings, the
"old Mill" - restored in 1901 by Arkitekt Rosen and furnished for
the manufacture of handmade paper - the manager's house, Mich.
Drewsen's villa, engineer's house, workers' houses etc. wide, had of
steam power 125 HP., of hydropower 200 HP., and employed about 200
workers, of which about half were women), Koopmann's pig
slaughterhouse (founded 1878-79, on the field lands and with about
60 workers), Hammers Wool Spinning Mill and Cloth Factory (on the
square , built in 1857, expanded in 1895, with an annual production
of about 200,000 pd. of wool yarn and 50,000 acres of cloth and
dress, with about 60 workers), Com michau & co. (knitwear factory,
built in 1883, 1901 transferred to a limited company, capital DKK
400,000, with an annual production of approximately 8,000 dozen
woolen goods and 8,000 dozen linen goods, the last only abroad, with
approximately 90 workers), Silkeborg Ironworks and Machine Factory
(Dons -Blædel and Schneecloth, laid out in 1854, with about 70
workers), Verners Wool Spinning Mill (about 24 workers), Jensens
Wool Spinning Mill (about 20 workers), 1 distillery, 2 beer
breweries, 2 steam mills, 1 cooperative dairy, 1 mill, 2 sawmills; 1
machine joinery, 1 tobacco factory, 1 dairy, 2 book printing houses,
m.m.
In Silkeborg, markets were held every month, except
January and August, with horses and cattle. Market day was every
Saturday.
In Silkeborg, 4 newspapers were published:
"Silkeborg Avis", "Silkeborg Dagblad", "Silkeborg Folkeblad" and
"Silkeborg Socialdemokrat" (the last 3 were printed in Aarhus).
The distribution of the inhabitants by industry was in 1890: 459
lived by intangible enterprise, 50 by agriculture, 27 by
horticulture, 2,060 by trade and industry, 827 by trade and
turnover, 16 by shipping, 632 by various day-care enterprises, 108
by their means, and 38 enjoyed alms. According to a 1906 census, the
population was 7,803, of which 734 subsisted on intangible
activities, 48 on agriculture, forestry and dairy farming, 0 on
fishing, 4,341 on crafts and industry, 1,488 on trade and more, 315
on transportation, 399 were retired people, 244 lived by public
support and 234 by other or unspecified business.
The
interwar period
During the interwar period, Silkeborg's
population was growing: in 1916, 9,180 inhabitants, in 1921 10,896,
in 1925 11,473, in 1930 12,078, in 1935 13,393, in 1940 14,378
inhabitants. But at the same time there was a growth in the suburbs
Alderslyst and Lysbro villaby in Balle Municipality and Søholt town
in Gødvad Municipality. These suburbs were incorporated into the
market town on April 1, 1941.
At the census in 1930,
Silkeborg had 12,078 inhabitants, of which 1,088 subsisted on
intangible activities, 5,597 by handicrafts and industry, 1,798 by
trade etc., 873 by transport, 294 by agriculture, forestry and
fishing, 1,029 by housework, 1,134 were out of business and 265 had
not stated source of income.
After World War II, Silkeborg continued its population growth. In 1945 there were 20,955 inhabitants in the market town, in 1950 23,372 inhabitants, in 1955 24,296 inhabitants, in 1960 24,465 inhabitants and in 1965 25,789 inhabitants. Gradually, new suburbs developed, Funder Bakke in Funder Municipality and Balle town and Hvinningdal in Balle Municipality.
After the municipal reform came into force in 2007, Silkeborg Municipality consists of Silkeborg, Gjern, Kjellerup and Them municipalities.
Silkeborg is connected to Aarhus and Herning by the motorway
Herningmotorvejen. The motorway cuts through the eastern part of the
city area and separates the districts of Nørreskov Bakke, Gødvad Bakke
and Gødvad to the north-east from the rest of the city situated to the
south-west of the motorway.
From Silkeborg Station there are
regional trains to Aarhus Hovedbanegård and Skjern, while the Regional
Express goes to both Aarhus and Herning.
The Viborg Bridge
connects the city center and Alderslyst for car traffic.
The
Kammerslusen allows canoeists and kayakers to pass through the buoyant
Gudenå at the former Silkeborg Paper Factory.
Jyske Bank, the country's third largest, has its headquarters in
Silkeborg. The bank has over 3,500 employees nationwide. EnergiMidt
serves a total of 176,000 customers in Central Jutland, and the head
office is in Silkeborg.
In the 1950s, when there was a shortage
of cars in Denmark, many used cars were brought to Silkeborg, and the
sale of used cars became a niche for the town, just as the sale of new
cars arose. The car dealerships are located close to Primary Route 15,
which runs through the northern part of the city. In 1972, the
association "Bilernes By" was founded as a guarantee association to
provide car customers with a better life. In 2006, Bilernes Hus was
inaugurated. From 1912-2002, there was Dansk Automobil Byggeri, which
produced buses and trucks.
JN Data A/S has over 500 employees and
provides IT infrastructure. Media in the city include Midtjyllands Avis
published in and around Silkeborg and Radio Silkeborg, as well as Din
Radio 8600.
Årstiderne arkitekter was founded in 1985 in the
city, but today also has design studios in e.g. Herning and Copenhagen.
The united Papirfabrikker was a large paper manufacturer that, among
other things, ran Silkeborg Papirfabrik, but the company ceased to exist
in 1990.
In 1985, Reitz Medaljer was founded in the city.
Silkeborg Gymnasium is the country's largest gymnasium and in 2021
had almost 1,500 students. In 2011, the average for the students was
slightly above the national average. Silkeborg Technical High School has
almost 300 students.
Silkeborg Sports College was established in
1994 and collaborates both with the high school and Silkeborg
Handelsskole as well as a number of the city's sports clubs.
A
number of schools used to be centered around Skoletorvet, but today only
Th.Langs Skoler remains. Th. Langs Seminarium was a teachers' seminary
that existed from 1891 to 1986.
Silkeborg High School was founded
in 1969 and has an average of around 130 students. The college offers
both long courses (spring and autumn) and short summer courses.
From 2007 to 2013, there was also the international high school
Performers House.
Johannes Fibiger, Danish doctor and Nobel laureate
Asger Jorn
Don Powell (Slade)
Thomas Mygind
Anders Dam (Jyske Bank)
Willy
Omme
Lars Larsen (Jysk Bedding Store)
Lars Ytting Bak, cyclist
Jakob Fuglsang, cyclist
Dick Kaysø, actor
Søs Egelind, actress
Jesper Asholt, actor
Maibritt Saerens, actor
Thomas Bjørn, golfer
Mick Øgendahl, comedian
Bodil Busk Laursen
Alphabeat, music group
Simon Kvamm, musician
Mani Spinx, musician
Rasmus Staghøj,
journalist
Brian Lykke, actor and comedian
Sugar Lightning, Rapper
Shaka Loveless, musician
Rune Klan, comedian and magician
Tobias
Hamann, TV chef and author
Esben Bjerre, radio and TV host
Kasper
Dolberg, soccer player
Lise Baastrup Nielsen, actress
Peter
Ingemann, journalist and TV presenter
Jonas Risvig, film director,
photographer
Robert Skov, soccer player