Vejle is a large Danish town in South Jutland in the innermost
part of Vejle Fjord, where Vejle Ådal and Grejsdalen meet. With its
57,655 inhabitants (2020), the city is Denmark's 9th largest city.
Vejle is located in Vejle Municipality, which was established by the
local government reform in 2007. In connection with the local
government reform, Vejle became home to the regional house for the
Region of Southern Denmark in the office buildings for the former
Vejle County.
The town name "Vejle" is derived from the Old
Danish word wæthel, which means ford. The town is located by a
wetland, which in Viking times could be crossed by the Ravning
Bridge. The town was first mentioned in 1256, and the oldest known
market town privileges were issued by King Valdemar III on 16 August
1327 in Nyborg.
Archaeological excavations south of
Kirketorvet in central Vejle have shown that the area was built
around the year 1100. The king's castle, Castrum Wæthel, was then
where Vejle Trafikcenter is today. The monastery of the Dominican
Order was located in the years 1310 to 1531, where Vejle Town Hall
is located today. Vejle was first mentioned in 1256 in connection
with a large church meeting in the city.
The steep slopes of
the fjord on both sides of the city reach the greatest heights
around Munkebjerg, which is known as the place where the beech often
springs out first and heralds the coming of spring in Denmark.
Central Vejle was founded around Vejle Å and Grejs Å, and street
names such as Søndergade, Torvegade, Nørregade and Vestergade
illustrate quite well how Vejle has developed. In the 1930s,
Dæmningen and Boulevarden came to the west, and later the city has
grown up over the hills with the satellite cities Søndermarken,
Mølholm and Vinding to the south, Nørremarken and Uhrhøj to the
north and Bredballe to the east.
Vejle, whose name in the Middle Ages was written Wæthlæ, Wæthel, Wedel, by Huitfeldt and elsewhere Vedle, probably from "vejle", which originally meant a shallow fjord that could be waded across.
Vejle is an old town whose origins go way back in the Middle Ages,
although, as far as is known, it was first mentioned in the middle of
the 13th century. In any case, there were two fortified places early on:
Borgvold on the eastern side of the city, north of the outlet of the
stream, which has served to defend the access from the fjord (Borgvold
is probably identical to Castrum Wethæl, which in 1351 with its
adjoining properties was mortgaged to Ribe Bishopric; in 1473 the square
was called Borgvold, belonged to the monastery and was laid out for
cabbage farms ), and
Rosborg 2060 cubits west of Sønderbro to defend
the river valley;
Perhaps the city owes its origin to these two
fortifications. Both banks have been built on and surrounded by ramparts
and graves, but in Danish. Atlas' time was the ploughed; the remains of
Borgvold disappeared with the construction of the railway; in an old
sage, "the kingdom of Rosborg" is mentioned; 1406 known Mr. Mogens Munk
to have "the Castle and Fortress of Rotsborgh, such as Koldinge and
Rotsborgh with the fiefs that now exist, and with Koldinge City and
Wætlæ".
The Middle Ages
Whether the city itself was fortified
and relied on these two fortifications, nothing is known. Its three
gates, Sønderport, at the later Sønderbro, Nørre- and Vesterport, both
at the end of Nørregade, still existed until the 19th century. Other
bridges include Midtbro (between Torve- and Nørregade), Nørrebro (by
Svaneapotek), Stokbro (to the north by Vardevejen) and Gjeddebro
somewhat west of this one. It is not known when the city became a market
town; the first known privileges were granted on 16 August 1327 by King
Valdemar; later they were confirmed on 3 August 1355, 27 November 1442
and often later, among others by Christian IV 27 March 1635, when the
city's archive had been destroyed during the war 1627-29.
The
town is mentioned several times in medieval / history, for example in
1256, when Archbishop Jakob Erlandsen had the well-known Vejle
constitution adopted here at the church meeting on March 6; also in
February 1279, a church meeting was held here by Archbishop Thrugot
Thorstensen. The city has often been visited by the kings. Here in 1316
Erik Menved concluded an alliance with his sister's son Johan af Werle,
and on 13 March 1345 an alliance was concluded here between Valdemar
Atterdag and his brother-in-law Hertug Valdemar; On 22 January 1523,
Christian II in Vejle received the letter of resignation from the
Jutland nobility.
Of the monasteries, the town had only one, the
Sortebrødreclosteret, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is generally stated
to have been founded around 1227, but it must be much younger. It is not
mentioned either in a chapter book from the second half of the 13th
century, valid for the Dominican Order's province of Dacia, nor in a
list of the province's monasteries written in 1300. It seems to have
been founded by Drost Laurens (Laurids) Jonsen. His son Peder Laurensen
(Panter) obtained papal favors for the monastery on a mission to Avignon
in 1355 on the occasion of its transformation from a wooden to a stone
building; In 1478, stricter rules of order were introduced in the
monastery, and in 1505 it was admitted to the so-called Dutch
Congregation. Otherwise, not much is known about it. It was contemplated
in wills 1456 and 1514. In the summer of 1529, it left to Mogens Gøye 2
farms in Ure (Tørrild Herred) and Munkskov in the same place. Soon
after, it was canceled and the monks left. At the end of 1529, Jens Hvas
til Kaas received furniture and treasures from the monastery on behalf
of the king. On March 4, 1531, the king handed over the buildings to the
citizens, however with reservation of the valuables and livestock that
might still be found in the monastery; a house was also to be furnished
in it, in which the king and queen could live during their stay in the
city. From the handover, two hop farms, the tile farm etc. were also
exempted, which the town received in 1535. The monastery was located by
Rådhustorvet.
A document from 1526 mentions a waste land in
Vejle, called Korsbrøregaarden. It is possible that there used to be a
farm here, inhabited by a couple of Johannite monks, which belonged to
one of the country's Johannite monasteries.
At the beginning of modern times, the city was hit by severe
accidents, especially fires. In 1523 "most of the city" burned. In 1530
there was a big fire, which reduced the town hall to ashes. In 1546, the
king gave the fire-affected citizens freedom from taxes and other
encumbrances for 3 years; by letter of 10 November 1553, fire-damaged
citizens were once again given freedom to rebuild their farms, and in
1595 37 farms on Sønder- and Fiskergade and Sønderport's gatehouse
burned.
In 1584, the plague swept away 500 people. Well, the city
seems to have made some progress in Beg. of the 17th century; but then
came the wars, which brought it down for a long time. During the
imperial war 1627-29, it was almost constantly occupied by the imperial
troops, who fortified the town hall and the church and demolished or
burned a number of houses; when the enemy left, about 200 houses were
destroyed, whole streets lay deserted, many people had moved from the
town, and the public buildings, especially the church and the town hall,
were greatly abused: the tower of the town hall had partly fallen down.
Also in the 1644-45 war, it was visited by the enemy, who again
fortified the town hall and demolished a number of houses in its
vicinity; after the war it was even more ruined than in 1629, as "a
quarter of the town lay desolate with what was ruined in the previous
war". In the year 1654, the city's existence was seriously threatened by
the newly established city of Frederiksodde, as the king, in favor of
the latter, wanted to ban all sea trade on Vejle, a ban which the
citizens, however, were able to avert. Then came the Swedish War of
1657-60, in which it was first occupied by the Swedes, then by the
Allies, who housed, if possible, even worse than the enemy, and the
condition was further worsened by a plague in 1659, which carried off a
large number of people. After the peace agreement, only 29 buildings
were inhabited, the others were burnt down, destroyed or abandoned and
most citizens moved out into the countryside.
Second only to
trade, arable farming has been the residents' main occupation, and in
particular a large amount of hops were grown in the city and its
surroundings in the past; as late as 1682 there were 95 hop gardens in
the town, although a large part had been destroyed in the wars of the
17th century, but in the second half of the 18th century hop cultivation
had completely ceased.
In 1672 there were 712 inhabitants, while before the war in 1627 the
town is believed to have had 1,300. It was a long time before it began
to gain strength, the more so as its trade was almost entirely rendered
impossible, as the depth in which the ships were to lie was silted up,
and as new fires ravaged it; thus in 1739 part of it burned, and on 23
April 1786 the whole of Nørregade, a good third of the town, was reduced
to ashes. In 1769 it had 950 inhabitants, and in 1793 there were a total
of 169 farms, i.e. fewer than the number that the imperial troops had
destroyed in 1627-29.
In the 19th century, however, it made
strong progress, especially after it had acquired its port in the 1820s.
The harbor was laid out in 1824-27; previously the ships had to anchor
about 1½ quarter miles from the city in the fjord and unload and load at
boats.
In both of the Schleswig wars, Vejle was occupied by the
enemy, without, however, taking any serious damage; on his retreat, Olaf
Rye delivered a skirmish at the town on 8 May 1849, and after a battle
between the Danes and the Austrians outside the town on 8 March 1864, it
was occupied by the latter and later by the Prussians.
Vejle's population was increasing in the late 1800s and early 1900s:
3,300 in 1850, 4,164 in 1855, 4,920 in 1860, 6,092 in 1870, 7,145 in
1880, 9,015 in 1890, 14,592 in 1901, 16 .212 in 1906 and 17,261 in 1911.
In terms of factories and industrial facilities, the city had around
the year 1900: several iron foundries, including Hess' Jærnstøberi
(established 1876, approx. 300 workers), P. Jensen & Co. Iron foundry
(established 1862, approx. 20 workers), and Vejle Jærnbyggeri og
Maskinfabrik (a joint-stock company established in 1900, share capital
DKK 100,000, approx. 20 workers), Vejle Bolte- og Møtrikfabrik (a
joint-stock company established in 1899, share capital DKK 60,000),
Vejle Bomuldsspinderier (a joint-stock company established in 1901,
share capital DKK 1½ million, formed by merging 3 older companies,
annual production 4 million pd., approx. 500 workers), M. Hansens
mekaniske Væverier (transformed into a joint-stock company 1897, share
capital 70,000 DKK, annual production approx. 30,000 acres, approx. 30
workers), Vejle Dampvæveri (founded 1890, a limited company established
in 1899, share capital DKK 150,000, annual production worth approx. DKK
600,000, 137 workers), several breweries and brandy distilleries ,
including Bryggeriet Vejle (established 1858, belonging to the limited
company "Østjydske Bryggerier", 18 workers), and Møhls
Brændevinsbrænderi, several malthouses. Vejle Steam and Water Mill
(approx. 20 workers), Steensens Margarine Factory (established 1889,
annual turnover of DKK 3 million, approx. 90 workers), 2 mineral water
factories, 1 chocolate factory (joint stock company), 1 perfume and soap
factory, 1 chicory dryer , several cigar and tobacco factories, several
dyers, tanneries, including Aktieselskabet Dansk Garve-Kompagni
(established 1898, share capital DKK 200,000), and Vejle
Saalelæder-Fabrik (joint-stock company, established 1889), and
brickworks, including Bøgager Teglværk (a limited. company), 1
cement-roofing stone factory, Vejle County Swineslagteri (a limited
liability company established in 1896, share capital DKK 200,000), etc.,
as well as 5 book printers.
The following markets were held in
Vejle: every Wednesday from 1 November until July and the second
Wednesday of each month with live cattle, 1 in January, 3 in February
and 3 in March with horses, 2 in April, 1 in June, 1 in September and 1
in October with horses and cattle. Torvedag was every Wednesday and
Saturday.
In Vejle, 4 newspapers were published: "Vejle Amts
Avis", "Vejle Amts Folkeblad", "Vejle Amts Dagblad" and "Vejle
Socialdemokrat".
The distribution of the population according to
livelihoods in 1890: 722 lived from intangible activities, 4,069 from
crafts and industry, 2,028 from trade and turnover, 260 from
agriculture, 129 from shipping, 1,312 from various day laborers, 413
from their means, 80 enjoyed alms, and 2 sat in prison. According to a
census in 1906, the population was 16,212, of which 946 supported
themselves by non-material activities, 471 by agriculture, forestry and
dairying, 14 by fishing, 9,699 by crafts and industry, 2,725 by trade
and more, 1,026 by transport, 727 were salespeople, 294 lived on public
support and 310 on other or unspecified business.
During the interwar period, Vejle's population grew: in 1916 19,597,
in 1921 22,001, in 1925 22,453, in 1930 23,094, in 1935 24,354, in 1940
25,198 inhabitants. But at the same time there was growth in the suburbs
of Grejsdalen, Frederikshøj, Uhrhøj and Trædballe in Hover Municipality,
Mølholm villaby, Vindingland and Eskholt in Vinding Municipality and
Trædballe in Skibet Municipality.
At the census in 1930, Vejle
had 23,094 inhabitants, of which 1,410 supported themselves by
non-material activities, 10,823 by craft and industry, 3,888 by trade
etc., 1,987 by transport, 514 by agriculture, forestry and fishing,
1,775 by housework, 2,381 were out of business and 316 had not stated
the source of income.
Geographically, Vejle is located in the Triangle area in
south-eastern Jutland and is a neighboring town to Kolding, Fredericia
and Horsens. Central Vejle is located on an islet of meltwater salt,
which formed a bank in the center of the town during the Ice Age.
Vejle is best known for its natural surroundings with long valleys
and steep, wooded slopes that, among other things, means that the town
is home to Denmark's only genuine serpentine road, which winds its way
up through the forest at Munkebjerg on the south side of Vejle Fjord.
Vejle Ådal is Denmark's longest tunnel valley, while Grejsdalen is
Denmark's largest gorge. Both flow into the Vejle Fjord, which connects
Vejle with the Lillebælt and the Kattegat by sea.
Vejle consists of the city center and a number of satellite towns
that have grown together over time and been incorporated into the city
of Vejle. Søndermarken, Nørremarken and Grejsdalen are, however,
established as an extension of the city center up above the hills.
Vejle center
Bredballe lies east of the city center and north of
Vejle Fjord and is known as a well-kept garden area. The average income
is the highest in Western Denmark.
Grejsdalen is the northernmost
part of the city, and lies in a long, narrow valley that was formed by
the ice during the last Ice Age
Hover lies west of Grejsdalen towards
the city
Lille Grundet is located north of the city center and in the
northwest corner of Nørremarken and is a relatively new residential area
Mølholm lies to the southeast
Nørremarken lies to the north-east and
houses, among other things, Nørreskoven with Vejle Stadium
Petersminde on the top of Uhrhøj lies west of Grejsdalen
Store
Grundet was established at the beginning of 2000 and is located north of
Lille Grundet
Vestbyen is the westernmost part of the city and
includes, among other things, The ship, Trædballe and the viewpoint
Himmelpind
Vinding lies to the southeast in extension of Mølholm. It
houses the "Vinding SF" football club, which in 2008 was voted the
broadside club of the year at TV 2's football gala.
Søndermarken is
the south-western part of the city and is located facing Vejle Ådal on
land separated from the Petersholm manor.
Vejle is the cultural and economic center of Vejle Municipality and,
as part of the growth center, the Triangle area is rich in industry,
trade and service professions. Historically, industry has been very
important for the city's development, while today the focus is more on
trade and service as well as knowledge business.
profession
Vejle was once known as the Manchester of Denmark, because De Danske
Bomuldsspinderieri had for a period extensive activities in the town,
where hydropower is easily available. In the first half of the 20th
century, Vejle stood as a giant within the Danish textile industry, and
around 25 percent of the workers in the city were employed in the
industry. Despite problems in the industry already in the 50s and 60s,
the last cotton factory survived until 1993, when the textile adventure
ended. Today, many of the old factory premises are used for art and
business, while other factories have been converted into rental housing
in recent years.
Later, new business ventures arose in Vejle.
Many people know the former chewing gum giant Dandy, which has today
been acquired by foreign investors and has changed its name to Gumlink.
However, the production of medical chewing gum is still owned by the
supervisor, Holger Bagger Sørensen. The product is manufactured at the
chewing gum factory Fertin in Vejle.
Finally, the Tulip
slaughterhouses have been a significant industrial workplace in Vejle.
Tulip has today closed its factory at the port, but continues to have a
large production in the industrial area in Vejle Nord.
Nowadays,
Vejle houses i.a. a large number of IT companies, and the description of
the city as Denmark's Manchester has been popularly replaced by
Denmark's Silicon Valley. Today's IT companies, however, do not have the
same significance for the city's development and demographics as the
textile industry did in the past.
Because Vejle Municipality is
Denmark's 5th largest municipality in terms of population and houses the
administration office for Region Southern Denmark, the city also has
many administrative workplaces.
Shopping
Vejle is known as an
active trading town with a wide and varied range of both chain stores
and specialty stores. In order to maintain its position as the leading
commercial city in the area, Vejle Municipality has renovated and
extended the city's main street and enriched the cityscape with new art
and architecture.
Combined with the reopening of Mølleåen below
the Dam and two new shopping centres, Bryggen and Mary's, the urban
development must contribute to creating an even more attractive trading
town. Both shopping centers are located in central Vejle, because the
city council has decided to invest in creating a vibrant city centre.
For the same reason, many new homes have been established in the center
of Vejle.
Vejle has also been named Denmark's best trading city
in 2018-2020.
Politics
Since the Social Democrat Christian Jacobsen became Vejle's first
popularly elected mayor in 1919, the city has politically been a
stronghold for the Social Democrats and the trade union movement. The
most significant social democratic mayor in the city's history has,
without comparison, been Willy Sørensen, who was mayor of Vejle from
1946 until his death in 1978.
However, the social democratic
"kingdom" was broken in 1993, when a political coalition between V, K, R
and SF secured the mayor's post for SF's Flemming Christensen, who sat
in the mayor's chair until 2005.
At the municipal and regional
elections in 2009, Arne Sigtenbjerggaard (V) was elected mayor of Vejle
Municipality. When Sigtenbjerggaard took over the post of mayor, the
city's former mayor Leif Skov (S) was appointed deputy mayor.
The
city council in Vejle Municipality has 31 members and holds meetings at
the city's old town hall in the center of Vejle.
Among nationally
known politicians, Vejle has fostered Prime Minister Lars Løkke
Rasmussen (V), former Minister of the Environment, Minister of Taxation
and Minister of Education Troels Lund Poulsen, former Minister of Health
and member of the European Parliament Torben Lund (S) and former
Minister of Transport and Minister of Transport and Energy Flemming
Hansen (K). etc.
Environmental policy
In Vejle, waste is
sorted into black and green waste bags for residual waste and for
organic waste that is easily degradable. The system is called optical
sorting (a type of source sorting) and came into force on 1 January
2003. The system has been an integral part of Vejle Municipality's
environmental policy since 1985, when the city council decided to ensure
an environmentally sound recycling of the city's waste.
As part
of Vejle's environmental profile, Vejle Municipality has also initiated
a number of nature projects. The most ambitious is the re-establishment
of Kongens Kær immediately outside the city limits in Vejle Ådal, where
the stream meanders again after being straightened out for agricultural
purposes. The establishment of two new bathing beaches, Albuen and
Tirsbæk Strand, have also been major projects, which today draw many
residents of Veijle to the coast between Vejle and Bredballe on summer
days.
Historically, Vejle's development has been guided by the city's
central location and the fjord, which has made it easy to sail goods in
and out of the city. In addition, the city's numerous creeks and
streams, which previously created hydropower for industrial companies,
have left their mark on the cityscape. Vejle's pedestrian street is
today located where the oldest roads flowed, and through glass cases in
Torvegade you can see the historic trading street a few meters below the
current street course.
Vejle is centrally located in Denmark and
a traffic hub, which is why the city is home to the country's first
major transport center at GateWay E45.
From Vejle Trafikcenter, 9
city bus lines connect the various districts, just as from the traffic
center you can get connections by bus and train to the whole country.
Vejle Station was inaugurated in 1868 and is today a central station on
the Danish railway network. However, today the station is a challenge
for Danish infrastructure due to a political desire to be able to run
trains between Odense and Aarhus in one hour. This may mean that another
bridge must be built over Vejle Fjord.
The Port of Vejle at its
current location was inaugurated in 1827. In the years after World War
II, the port grew to become Denmark's second largest after the Port of
Copenhagen, and until 1932 the two fjord steamers "Hvidbjerg" and "Jeppe
Jensen" (named after the port's founder) sailed between the harbor bed
and Munkebjerg, Tirsbæk, Ulbækhus and Fakkegrav.
Today, the Port
of Vejle is an economically profitable port. The largest company at the
port is Lantmännen Mills, which has established a hypermodern mill at
Sydhavnen at a total cost of half a billion kroner. The northern part of
the harbor is being developed into a park and residential area that will
connect the city with the fjord out to the architectural landmark,
Bølgen, which is Western Denmark's most expensive housing project of all
time. In 2018, Kirk Kapital built their headquarters, Fjordenhus,
located out in the harbor basin, designed by Olafur Eliasson.
In
the area of aviation, Vejle Municipality co-owns Denmark's second
largest airport, Billund Airport, just over 30 kilometers from the city
centre, to which airport buses run regularly from Vejle Trafikcenter.
Vejle is the headquarters of the vocational college University
College Lillebælt, which is a merger of several East Jutland and Funen
educational institutions, where you can train to become a nurse. In
total, there are approximately 7,000 students and 700 employees at
University College Lillebælt.
In Vejle, there is also the
opportunity to take short and medium-term higher education, as Vejle
Handelsskole i.a. offers training courses for logistics economists and
data scientists. Vejle Handelsskole also offers hg and hhx, while Vejle
Tekniske Skole is responsible for the craftsman training and htx at
Vejle Tekniske Gymnasium.
Vejle has two general secondary schools
with linguistic, mathematical, natural science, artistic and social
science lines as well as HF. Rødkilde Gymnasium is located next to Vejle
Fjord, while Rosborg Gymnasium and HF are located in the western part of
the city next to Vejle Ådal. VUC and Folkeuniversitet Vejle offer
various courses and subjects in adult education. Within the city limits
there are two colleges: Vejle Idrætshøjskole and the School of
Gastronomy, Music & Design.
At primary school level, Vejle has 11
ordinary public schools, two independent schools and four private
schools (one Rudolf Steiner, one secular, two Christian, one of which is
Catholic), just as the town has two special schools for children with
special needs. As something unique to Vejlen, the town houses a special
10th grade education, just as the town has trained sports talents since
2008. This happens in elite sports classes at Nørremarksskolen and at
Vejle Handelsskole. The concept will be expanded with new courses and
opportunities in the coming years.
The composer Jacob Gade is without comparison the cultural figure
from Vejle who has achieved the greatest international fame. His world
famous Jalousie, Tango Tsigane from 1925 is one of the most popular and
most played tunes ever composed. In Vejle you can therefore find street
names, names of hotels etc. named after the town's famous son. The opera
singer Per Bach Nissen was born in Vejle.
Fjordbyen has also
fostered the writer Ulrik Gräs, who grew up in Svendsgade in Vestbyen,
the poet Harald Kidde, who lived in Havnegade, the priest and historian
Anders Sørensen Vedel, the writer Karl Bjarnhof, the poet Inger
Christensen, the visual artist Albert Bertelsen and the actress Bodil
Jørgensen and others. . For a number of years, the pianist and composer
Willy Stolarczyk, as the city's head of culture, has set the standard
for Vejle's cultural life.
Vejle Art Museum, which was renovated
and expanded in 2006, includes 'Wørzner's Collection' with modern Danish
art, e.g. many COBRA works. The core collection is the 'Eckart
Collection' of approx. 2,000 drawings and graphics that Vejle Art Museum
received in 1899. The collection contains works by the masters of art
history, e.g. copper engravings by Albrecht Dürer and about 50 etchings
by Rembrandt.
Vejle Music Theater is the city's center for
musicals, stand-up, theater and concerts, just as Torvehallerne offers
many musical and cultural events. The building, located in the modern
arcade Mary's, organizes rock and pop concerts, and Vejle is also known
for visits from many international jazz names via the jazz club Jive.
The former industrial complex, Spinderihallerne, was renovated in
2009 to form a common framework for art, culture and business. Vejle
City Museum is today located in the old halls, where, among other
things, is a graffiti wall that you can legally paint on. At the
inauguration of the Spinderihallerne in 2009, the Prime Minister, Lars
Løkke Rasmussen, had the spray can with him.
Kunsthal Vejle, Den
Blå Automat, centrally located on Banegårdspladsen, has since 2018
offered Danish and international contemporary art in small formats,
where the automat's twenty rooms of 10x17.5x20 cm form the starting
point. The art here is available around the clock. From 2021 and five
years from now, Kunsthal Vejle is behind the celebration of the city's
child, the poet Inger Christensen, with exhibitions and artistic
interventions in the city and the countryside around Vejle.
Vejle
is home to several theater associations, including Vejle Musical
Theatre, Ungdommens Theater Vejle and Vejle Amateur Stage.
Vejle's cultural life is also characterized by many cafes, galleries
etc. with various cultural offers. In 2018, the city got its first
restaurant in the Michelin guide, when Restaurant MeMu received one
star.
The town's traditional football club, Vejle Boldklub, has won five
Danish championships and won the National Cup six times, which is enough
for both cups to have a permanent place in the clubhouse in Nørreskoven.
Vejle Boldklub has fostered many national team players, including Allan
Simonsen, who in 1977 was the only Dane to win the prize as Europe's
best footballer.
Vejle also has the American football club
Triangle Razorbacks.
Within the other major sports in Denmark,
Vejle is traditionally not highly represented. In 1991, Vejle Bredballe
Handball Club was founded as a merger of two former clubs, and in
2002/2003 it became a single season for the men in the 1st division.
Vejle Badminton Club and Vejle Basketball Club are not represented in
the top either.
A large part of Vejle's indoor sports facilities
are gathered in the DGI house Vejle, which is located in the western
part of the city. The center has five halls and a swimming pool, and it
has held, among other things, EC in boxing, EC in women's handball and
Danish Open in badminton. The new Vejle Stadium for the city's football
club was inaugurated in the spring of 2008.
The cycle race Post
Danmark Rundt traditionally makes the trip past Vejle, which is known as
the king stage of the race, where the riders on a circuit several times
have to climb up the steep climbs on e.g. Kiddesvej. The race therefore
often finds its final winner in Vejle.
The 3rd stage of the Tour
de France 2022 started in Vejle on 3 July.
Trædballehus burned down in 1954, but before then was a nationally
known tractor venue, where the fiddler and innkeeper Frederik Iversen
(1864 – 1948) entertained with his own waltzes and polkas together with
musicians from the area. They got their big break when the State Radio
spotted them during the construction of the old Lillebæltsbro in the
30s. Not far from Trædballehus is Himmelpind, a viewpoint with an
exciting history.
Vejle's oldest building, Sankt Nicolai Church
from the mid-13th century, houses "Queen Gunhild's" body from approx.
450 BC. The city's landmark Vejle Mølle on top of the slope towards
Søndermarken, which is visible to all and sundry, is also worth a visit.
The forests around Vejle offer great nature experiences. The
highlights include Vejle Ådal, Grejsdalen, Munkebjergskoven with its
steep slopes and Dyrehaven with fallow deer, sika deer and a view beyond
the fjord and city. In addition, in Nørreskoven, you can move around in
the treetops in the recently constructed climbing park Gorillapark.
Kongens Kær, on the outskirts of Vejle, is a unique wetland with a
rich bird life, including water and wading birds. The rare sea eagle
also comes to visit the wet meadows.
The Old Arrest House, which
is attached to Vejle Town Hall, was rebuilt in 1984 and won the Vejle
Prize for promoting the beautification of the town.
With its
lively town center and many old buildings, Vejle is a large trading
town, just as the development of new architecture, art and alternative
urban spaces through the 90s has made the town an attraction in itself.
Vejle was thus the first city in Denmark to have its own official
architecture policy, which sets the standard for urban development.
The Social Democrats' old stronghold in Vejle, the Building, is
today located under glass in the new Mary's shopping center and is
furnished with eateries, a café and two stages for, among other things,
jazz concerts. The Ökolariet is a free experience center for both
children and adults that focuses on ecology, recycling, nature, urban
development and more.
In addition, several major Jutland
attractions are close to Vejle, such as Lalandia, Givskud Zoo,
Skulpturby Give, Legoland and the old royal city of Jelling with the two
burial mounds and Denmark's baptism certificate, the Jelling Stones.
Tourism in Vejle and the surrounding area is handled by VisitVejle.