Herning

Herning
Panorama of Herning
Country	Denmark
Region	Midtjylland
Municipality	Herning
Government
• Mayor	Lars Krarup
Area (in Herning Municipality)
• Total	1,323.5 km2 (511.0 sq mi)
Population  (2009)
• Total	45,470
Time zone	UTC+1 (Central Europe Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2
Website	http://www.herning.dk/

Herning is a Danish city in Region Midtjylland. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 45,470 (1 January 2009) including the suburbs of Tjørring, Snejbjerg, Lind, Birk, Hammerum, and Gjellerup, making Herning the twelfth largest urban area in Denmark.

History

Herning has been called "The Capital of the Heath" (hedens hovedstad) and with good reason— it was established at the beginning of the 1800s during the period of heath reclamation. This period of time resulted in a growing population, and a demand for products and services to the new farmers in the area. Herning came into existence as a center of commerce for the area.

Later on, Herning became known for the textile-weaving industry that developed in and around the town. This industry was once Herning's principal economic activity: today, the town enjoys a diversified industrial base.

Herning became a market town in 1913.

Herning has twice, in 1965 and 2003, been awarded the title of Danish City of the Year.

Attractions

Herning is home to Messecenter Herning, the largest exhibition centre in Scandinavia, which gives the town a reputation for its many trade fairs.

Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt's museum of art aka Herning Art Museum is one of the major attractions.

The city hosts 3 buildings recognizable designed by the architect Jørn Utzon. One publicly and two privately owned buildings.

The town is also home to sculptor Ingvar Cronhammar's unique monumental work Elia. It is a black-painted, 60 m dome with four 10 m wide stairways inset into its surface at the Earth's cardinal points. These lead to an observation platform overlooking the surrounding heath, as well as to the sculpture's 30.000 cubic meter resonance chamber. Four steel columns rise to a height of 30m over the landscape; they are capped by red domes, lit from below and equipped to attract lightning. In the center of the sculpture, equidistant to the four columns, is a fifth column— a gas burner— about two meters below the viewing platform. The gas burner shoots a pillar of flame about one meter wide and 8.4m high up between the pillars at random intervals controlled by a computer. The sculpture is located in the town near the Herning Art Museum.

The old Herningsholm Estate in Herning is open to the public for touring. Classensborg Estate, now called Skarrildhus, is located 25 km south of the town, but is closed to the public because it is a private hotel and educational facility. The grounds, however, can be toured and are known for their beautiful rhododendron displays during the spring.

Transportation

Route 18 / 15 new motorways near Herning

There are a number of motorways around Herning: The expressway route 18 from Sinding to Sundsvej, and motorway from Sundsvej to Høgild is opened, the motorway from Høgild to Brande is open and an expressway from the eastern part of Herning to Snejbjerg is opened,and route 15 from Herning to Aarhus is also opened,but the motorways with Bording- Funder is under construction and finish in 2012. And motorway with Silkeborg is first constructs from 2011-2015. The entire motorway from Herning to Vejle open in 2013.

Famous residents of the municipality

• 1948 - Rudy Frederiksen, music video director
• 1949 - Kristen Nygaard Kristensen, football player (36 matches for the national team with 11 goals)
• 1950 - Helge Sander, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Denmark, liberal politician member af the Danish parliament (Folketinget) representing the party Venstre (Denmark)
• 1952 - Moses Hansen, mountaineer and evangelist
• 1960 - Jan Linnebjerg, actor known for the Pyrus character
• 1964 - Bjarne Riis, cyclist winning Tour de France in 1996 though he later admitted his drugabuse
• 1965 - Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis, actress
• 1969 - Søren Pind, liberal politician membor af the Danish parliament (Folketinget) representing the party Venstre and former mayor of Copenhagen
• 1969 - Claus Elming, TV-sportsjournalist
• 1970 - Jimmy Bøjgaard, TV-sportsjournalist
• 1971 - Kristian Jensen, current minister of taxation, liberal politician member af the Danish parliament (Folketinget) representing the party Venstre
• 1971 - René Munk Thalund, musician from the band Nephew
• 1973 - Michael Blaudzun, professional cyclist
• 1974 - Kenneth Jonassen, badmintonplayer (winner of All England)
• 1974 - Peter Lodahl, Operasinger (Lyric tenor at Komische Oper in Berlin)
• 1980 - Ellen Trane Nørby, liberal politician member af the Danish parliament (Folketinget) representing the party Venstre
• 1980 - Lisbeth Østergaard, tv-journalist
• 1980 - Jesper Nøddesbo, handballplayer
• 1982 - Kaspar Lyngsie, actor who portrayed the writer Hans Christian Andersen in the mini-tv-series "Young Andersen"
• 1984 - Merian Brastrup Clasen, entrepreneur and debater known for modern point on younger women's right to have children at an early age
• 1984 - Frans Nielsen, hockey player (the first NHL-player of Danish origin)
• 1989 - Marcell van Enckevort, floorball from the national team

External links

Media related to Herning at Wikimedia Commons

• Webpage of Herning city