Viborg, Denmark

Viborg
Viborg
	Seal
	Location in Denmark
Country	Denmark
Region	Region Midtjylland
Municipality	Viborg municipality
Earliest evidence	8th century
Government
• Burgomaster	Johannes Steensgaard (Socialdemokratiet)
Area
• City	1,474.05 km2 (569.13 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• City	91,405
• Density	62.0/km2 (161/sq mi)
• Urban	34,522
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Website	http://www.viborg.dk/

Viborg [ˈʋib̥ɒːˀ], is a town located in central Jutland, Denmark. It is the seat of both Viborg municipality and Region Midtjylland. Viborg is also the seat of the Western High Court, the High Court for the Jutland peninsula. Viborg Municipality is the largest municipality of Denmark, covering 3,3% of the total land area of Denmark.^[2]

Viborg is one of the oldest towns in Denmark, with Viking settlements dating back to the 8th century. Due to its central location, the town had great strategic importance, in political and religious matters, during the Middle Ages. A motte-and-bailey type castle was once located in the town. Viborg takes its name from a combination of two words: Wii, meaning a holy place, and berg, meaning a hill.

Viborg is famous for its cathedral. The construction of the cathedral started in 1130 and lasted about 50 years. The building has burned to the ground and been re-built several times. Only the crypt of the original cathedral is still preserved. The newest parts of the church are from 1876. The cathedral is famous for its many paintings by Danish painter Joakim Skovgaard, which depict stories from the Bible. Next to the cathedral is the Skovgaard museum, founded in 1937.^[3]

Before the Protestant Reformation Viborg was the home of five monasteries (one for Augustine brothers and one for Augustine sisters, a Franciscan monastery, a Dominican monastery and a monastery for the Knights Hospitaller), about 12 parish churches, several chapels and of course the Cathedral. Today only the Cathedral and a few remains of the Franciscan monastery and the Dominican monastery are left.

In Popular Culture

Viborg has over the last decade won a reputation as one of Denmark's leading cities for sports. It started with the city's women's handball team (a popular sport in Denmark), who continues to be one of Europe's top-5 clubs and since then both the men's handball team and most notably the professional football team have established themselves at the top of the Danish leagues. Viborg FF has since 1998 been a constant member in the Danish Superliga, reaching an all-time high when winning the Danish cup in 2000.

In the science fiction book The Corridors of Time by Poul Anderson, a Danish-American writer who did considerable research on Danish history, a large part of the plot takes place in 16th-century Viborg. The main protagonist - an American time-traveller from the 20th century - arrives in the city in 1535 and gets involved with the adherents of the overthrown King Christian II and of the peasant rebel leader Skipper Clement, who face savage persecution in the city.

Education

Viborg is home to a number of educational institutions, including Viborg Katedralskole (cathedral school). Denmark's oldest educational institution celebrated its 900th birthday in the year 2000. The school is believed to have been founded about 1060 - at the same time as the city became a site of a bishop. The church needed to educate boys and young men to enter into the church's service, and to that purpose it created a school. Its current monumental home was built in 1926 to accommodate a larger number of students and later the school added a dormitory to house the many students from outer regions or islands not close to a gymnasium. Although this role is now basically obsolete, the dorm continues to be a popular solution for many students wanting to get away from home or for a small number of students from Greenland. Viborg Katedralskole is today one of four gymnasiums in Viborg.