Vordingborg is a market town in South Zealand and is the capital
of Vordingborg Municipality, which belongs to Region Zealand. The
town is located by Masnedsund and is connected via a bridge to
Masnedø and further over Storstrømsbroen to Falster.
Within
the ring of estates, Vordingborg has 12,032 inhabitants (2020) and
17,904 inhabitants with the satellite cities Nyråd, Ørslev and
Stensved, which are located respectively. 1, 3 and 5 km from the
city limits. These towns are old villages that have developed into
satellite towns with large residential areas, because the estates
Rosenfeldt, Iselingen and Marienlyst complicate an overall urban
area development in Vordingborg.
Vordingborg is an old ferry
town with a rich history. The ruins of the old royal castle, which
was home to three Valdemar kings, are the city's main attraction.
The only fully preserved part, the Goose Tower, is the city's
landmark. There is also a historic-botanical garden on the ramparts;
it was created in 1921 by landscape architect G.N. Brandt on the
basis of the oldest Danish garden book from 1647 Horticultura Danica
by Hans Raszmussøn Block. The town's church Our Lady's Church dates
from 1388 and is located on the church meadow, from where the
remains of a moat extend to the castle ruins.
Vordingborg has
a high school, business school, seminary, barracks and railway
station and is home to Denmark's Borgcenter, the former South
Zealand Museum. On the peninsula Oringe there is a hospital for the
mentally ill. The city has three ports, including two marinas and an
industrial port. Along the coast by Storstrømmen is the popular Ore
Strand. Every year in July, the town party Vordingborg Festuge is
held and the award-winning Prince Jørgens Garde is affiliated with
the city. In odd years in August, the international theater festival
Waves is held, organized by the city's regional theater Cantabile 2.
A special road, Morten Olsen's Allé, by the city's stadium, is
named after the city boy, national football team coach and former
national team player Morten Olsen, who grew up in the city. He is
one of the few in Denmark who has been given a name after him alive.
Gl. Vordingborg Municipality was formed in 1970 and was until
the Local Government Reform, 2007 in Storstrøms County. The current
Vordingborg Municipality has arisen through the merger of Langebæk
Municipality, Møn Municipality, Præstø Municipality and Gl.
Vordingborg municipality.
From the South Zealand market town
there are 17 km to Præstø, 28 to Stege, 29 to Næstved, just over 31
to Nykøbing Falster, 58 to Rødbyhavn and 92 km to Copenhagen.
It is uncertain when the oldest castle was built on the bank, but Valdemar the Great built a castle on the site in 1157. The king wanted a gathering place for his fleet for defense and attack against the Wends and had gathered his ships in the harbor below the castle, so they were ready for use. The town of Vordingborg probably arose at the beginning of the 12th century, but only gained significant importance with the appearance of the castle. Valdemar went to war against the Wends together with Bishop Absalon, and in 1169 the Danish army landed on Rügen and captured the castle of Arkona. Valdemar returned victoriously to Vordingborg, where he died at his castle Worthing in 1182.
Valdemar Sejr often lived in the castle and used it frequently to
hold danehof. In the year of his death in 1241, he confirmed the Jutland
Law as the national applicable law for the Kingdom of Denmark. black
friars founded a monastery in the city in 1253, but its location is
uncertain. Several royal assemblies were held in the city: 1255, 1282,
1283 and 1284. In 1296, a settlement was concluded between Erik Menved
and Valdemar 4th of Slesvig (1262-1312), and Valdemar had to cede Als,
Ærø and Femern to the king. Christopher II was crowned in Vordingborg in
1324 and a wedding took place in the castle between his daughter
Margrethe and Margrave Ludwig, of Brandenburg (1314-1361). The king had
to go into exile in 1326.
Valdemar Atterdag became the king who
left his clearest mark on Vordingborg. The castle and the town were
mortgaged to the Holstein counts, but in 1346 came back into the king's
possession, and the castle was expanded with fortress towers and an
approx. eight meter high ring wall. This made it the kingdom's strongest
defence. As a mockery of the Holsteins and the Hanseatic cities, the
king placed a golden goose at the top of the highest castle tower,
comparing the 77 Hanseatic cities that had declared war on him to
screeching geese. The tower was now named the Goose Tower. The Hanseatic
States responded again in 1361 by besieging the town and castle, without
success, and after Valdemar's death in 1375, Margrete I concluded a
provisional peace with the Holstein counts in 1392.
In 1415,
Vordingborg became a market town, while Erik of Pomerania was king. He
managed to finally make peace with Holstein in 1435 after lengthy
negotiations at the South Zealand castle. At two royal assemblies there
in 1437 and 1438, Erik unsuccessfully tried to persuade his cousin Duke
Bogislaw to take over the kingship. The king now took his treasures and
the golden goose from the Goose Tower and traveled to Gotland. He did
not return to Vordingborg.
Although King Hans stayed at the castle for some time, it was no
longer the central royal residence of the kingdom, and things began to
decline for the city. Only as a crossing point to Falster did
Vordingborg retain a certain importance; there was not much trade, the
castle fell into disrepair and poverty increased so much in the market
town that Frederik II in 1577 completely waived the city tax. In a
letter from 1582, the sheriff of Vordingborg Castle was asked to improve
it, as "the House and Walls were very dilapidated". In a letter from
1585, the king asked the same sheriff to get the local churches to
provide financial help to counteract the decay of Vordingborg Church.
The city's problems continued in the 17th century. In 1635,
Christian IV ordered that a master carpenter should go to Vordingborg
Castle to repair the towers of the castle, as it was feared that they
would collapse and destroy the nearest houses. It helped just a little,
because during the Swedish Wars in 1658, the Swedish king Karl X Gustav
was able to occupy the castle unimpeded and start peace negotiations
with the Danish councilors. When the negotiations failed, Swedish
soldiers occupied Vordingborg Castle until 1659, although Danish
partisans under the leadership of Svend Poulsen Gønge (nicknamed
Gøngehøvdingen) attacked the castle. At the peace of 1660, the place
looked extremely dilapidated, with walls and towers about to collapse,
and it was declared unfit for habitation.
From 1671 to 73, Christian V. built a three-winged hunting castle in the Italian Baroque style for his brother Prince Jørgen, who demolished large parts of the old castle complex. However, the Goose Tower was allowed to remain standing and was used as a prison. The prince traveled to England in 1683 and the castle was left uninhabited until, in the 18th century, it was fitted out as cavalry barracks. In 1750 it was over and after a demolition, the materials were sold to the Excise Directorate in 1769. One of the side wings was allowed to remain standing. It contains Denmark's Borgcenter. Like many Danish towns, Vordingborg was hit by a series of town fires in the 18th century in 1718, 1729 (twice) and 1781. The population increased only modestly from 736 inhabitants in 1672 to 765 in 1769. There was stagnation in many places in those years .
Thanks to industrialization and the town's importance as a crossing
point to Lolland-Falster, the 19th century was a general boom period for
Vordingborg. In Algade, a classicist-style pharmacy was built in the
early 1800s and a new school was ready in 1829. On Slotstorvet, the Old
Town Hall was built in historicist style in 1845 according to drawings
by royal building inspector Peter Ernst Kornerup, and during the 1850s
the Oringe psychiatric hospital was completed on the peninsula of the
same name. The hospital was designed by Gottlieb Bindesbøll and later
expanded by Niels Siegfred & Johan Henrik Nebelong in 1870. In the same
year, the Næstved-Vordingborg railway was built, and a railway bridge
was built over the Masnedsund to the ferry stop at Masnedø in 1884. A
railway, the Kalvehavebanen, was also built , from the ferry site to
Kalvehave in 1897, but it ceased after just over 60 years. A new gilded
copper goose was added to the top of the Goose Tower, which has been
sitting there ever since.
Vordingborg's population was increasing
in the late 1800s but stagnated in the early 1900s: 1,579 in 1850, 1,763
in 1855, 1,780 in 1860, 2,248 in 1870, 2,712 in 1880, 3,188 in 1890,
3,643 in 1901 , 3,608 in 1906 and 4,003 in 1911.
According to
means of livelihood, the population in 1890 was divided into the
following groups, including both breadwinners and dependents: 430 lived
from intangible activities, 1,126 from crafts and industry, 586 from
trade and turnover, 125 from shipping, 190 from fishing, 191 from
agriculture, while 445 were distributed among other occupations, 70
lived on their means, 23 needed alms, and 2 were in prison. According to
a census in 1906, the population was 3,608, of which 337 supported
themselves by non-material activities, 216 by agriculture, forestry and
dairying, 187 by fishing, 1,378 by crafts and industry, 662 by trade and
more, 546 by transport, 139 were salespeople, 108 lived on public
support and 35 on other or unspecified business.
In 1872, the
town had factories and industrial plants: 2 brandy distilleries, 1 iron
foundry, 1 printing house, 4 beer breweries. At the turn of the century,
there were factories and industrial plants: 1 iron foundry, 1 printing
house, 2 beer breweries, 1 mineral water factory, 1 tannery, 1
brickworks, 1 impregnation plant for telegraph and telephone poles and 1
cooperative pig slaughterhouse in Masnedsund (stock company, established
1889).
In Vordingborg, 2 newspapers were published: "Vordingborg
Dagblad" and "Vordingborg Avis" (both published in Næstved).
In
Vordingborg, 7 markets were held annually, namely in March, April, May,
July, September, October and November.
In the interwar period, Vordingborg's population grew: in 1921 5,184,
in 1925 5,432, in 1930 5,607, in 1935 6,501 inhabitants [7]. But at the
same time there was growth in the suburbs of Nyråd, Marienberg and
Marienlyst, Masnedø and the mental hospital in Vordingborg Landsogn,
where a number of people with work in Vordingborg settled. On 1 April
1938, the entire Vordingborg County was incorporated into the Købstad
municipality.
At the census in 1930, Vordingborg had 5,607
inhabitants, of which 633 supported themselves by non-material activity,
1,914 by craft and industry, 883 by trade etc., 872 by transport, 289 by
agriculture, forestry and fishing, 327 by housework, 606 were out of
business, and 83 had not declared the source of income.
From 1912
to 1915, the Masnedøfort was built for observation and defense of the
Storstrømmen waters between Zealand and Falster, and Vordingborg
Barracks and Vordingborg Hospital were founded in 1913. Vordingborg's
time as a ferry town ended in 1937 with the construction of the
Storstrømsbroen, and the railway station at Masnedsund moved to the
market town. South Zealand was now connected to Falster, and
Vordingborg's catchment area grew, also because all traffic to the
important ports of Gedser and Rødbyhavn passed through the town. On 9
April 1940, Denmark's Occupation, German troops came to capture
Storstrømsbroen, and an alarm was raised at Vordingborg Barracks. The
order was that the Masnedø Bridge was to be defended, but when the
German army commander demanded surrender, nothing more happened, and the
bridge was captured without drama.
The post-war period
After
the Second World War, Vordingborg continued its population growth. In
1945 there were 9,681 inhabitants in the market town, in 1950 11,231
inhabitants, in 1955 11,461 inhabitants, in 1960 11,780 inhabitants and
in 1965 11,905 inhabitants.
In 1946, Buko moved to Vordingborg
and took over the empty Masnedsund Station. The processed and cream
cheese-producing company became a very large workplace, but when the
farms in Eastern Denmark changed production in the 1950s and 60s, and
the cows moved to Jutland, Buko followed. The population in Vordingborg
fell in the 1970s and 80s; this trend was only reversed after the year
2000.
Vordingborg Station is served by regional trains between Copenhagen
and Nykøbing Falster. From the station there is also a bus connection to
Stege, Præstø, Næstved and Maribo, as well as two city bus lines.
Cityring goes around the city centre, and Primary Route 22 goes from
Vordingborg to Kalundborg, while Primary Route 59 goes to Stege på Møn.
The Masnedsund Bridge runs from Vordingborg to Masnedø just south of the
city. The bridge accommodates both train and car traffic.
The city is home to numerous small and medium-sized businesses.
TV
2 regions' branch in Region Zealand, TV Øst, has its headquarters in
Vordingborg. TV Øst covers the two former counties: Storstrøms County
and Vestsjællands County.
Vordingborg Barracks has since 1909 served
as the barracks in the town.
Youth education
The following programs are available in
Vordingborg Education Center
Vordingborg Gymnasium and HF
provider
pc
hf
Zealand Business College's (ZBC) branch (campus)
in Vordingborg, which is the former Vordingborg Business School. ZBC
Vordingborg offers:
vocational training
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Higher Education
Two higher education programs are offered by
Vordingborg Seminarium, which is located by the station
Elementary school teacher
Pedagogue
Other teaching
VUC
Storstrøm
Vordingborgskolen is a college with a focus on housekeeping
and needlework
Vordingborg is primarily known for the ruins of Vordingborg Castle
and the Goose Tower. The castle is the largest in terms of area that has
existed in Denmark. Fusionsmuseet Museum Southeastern Denmark, which
consists of, among other things Køge Museum, Næstved Museum and Møns
Museum are headquartered in Vordingborg, where Denmark's Borgcenter is
located. This museum deals with Vordingborg Castle and its place in
Denmark's history.
Close to the station is the Biograf Café,
which has existed since 1942.
In the Kulturarkaden are, among
other things, the municipality's main library, the Art Association
Vordingborg and the Vordingborg local history archive.
The Stars
venue in Gågaden has for many years held concerts throughout the year
with a mix of smaller local bands and a large number of bigger names
consisting of both national and international bands. It is among the
country's regional venues, designated by the Arts Council's Music
Committee, that receive support from the state and the municipality.
Of the annual cultural events, Vordingborg Festuge is probably the
best known. It runs over six days in week 28 and attracts over 100,000
visitors. At the festival, rock and pop music is played, and there are
stalls in a large area of the city.
In addition, there is Vilde
Vulkaner, which is a music and play festival for children aged 7-14, and
the Waves festival, which is held every two years, and is a festival for
theater and art. The latter is organized by the local theater Cantabile
2. In addition, in 2021, the city's old civic center in the urban forest
Kirkeskoven has been transformed into a meeting point for the area's
many tester groups with funds from Realdania and Vordingborg
Municipality, and it is now called Pavilion K. In the spring of 2022,
they held the first children's theater festival, which becomes annually
recurring.
Every other year, the music festival Gutter Island
Garage Rock Festival is held on Masnedø immediately south of the
district of Masnedsund.
In the northern part of the city was
Restaurant Babette, which was opened in 1991 by the chef couple Vivi
Schou and Henrik Pedersen. It has been named Restaurant of the Year in
both 1998 and 2017. In addition, employees at the restaurant have won
several awards from The Danish Food Guide and as Chef of the Year. The
restaurant closed in 2019.
In 2020-2022, a conversion of the old
station building in Vordingborg began, which will be converted into a
youth and culture center. In the building, i.a. The campus café,
practice rooms and the local publisher Vild Maskine.
Vordingborg Idræts Forening is a football club that plays in the Sjællandsserien. They have their home ground at Vordingborg Stadium, which has room for around 5,500 spectators, located on Morten Olsens Allé, named after the former top player and long-time national coach Morten Olsen, who comes from Vordingborg and still has a holiday home in the city.
Peter Andreas Heiberg (born 1758 – died 1841), exiled due to
criticism of the autocracy. His tombstone from Paris was erected at Our
Lady's Church in 1901.
Meir Aron Goldschmidt (born 1819), writer and
social critic
Morten Olsen (born 1949), former soccer player and
former national coach for Denmark's national soccer team. Morten Olsen's
Allé at Vordingborg Stadium was named after him around 1990. This makes
him one of the few in Denmark who has had a road named after him during
his lifetime.
Anders Trentemøller, musician
Jesper D. Jensen,
boxer
Mads Tunebjerg, Bassist, Kashmir
Rasmus Kofoed, the world's
best chef (Bocuse d'Or winner 2011)
Jesper Zuschlag, actor