Aalborg
Aalborg or Ålborg is Denmark's fourth largest urban settlement with a population of 119,862 in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598. As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalborg had a population of 221,082, making it the third most populous in the country after the municipalities of Copenhagen and Aarhus. Eurostat and OECD have used a definition for the metropolitan area of Aalborg, which includes all municipalities in the province of North Jutland, with a total population of 594,323 as of 1 July 2022.
By road Aalborg is southwest of Frederikshavn, and north of Aarhus. The distance to Copenhagen is if travelling by road and not using ferries.
The earliest settlements date to around AD 700. Aalborg's position at the narrowest point on the Limfjord made it an important harbour during the Middle Ages, and later a large industrial centre. Architecturally, the city is known for its half-timbered mansions built by its prosperous merchants. Budolfi Church, now a cathedral, dates from the end of the 14th century and Aalborghus Castle, a royal residence, was built in 1550. Today, Aalborg is a city in transition from a working-class industrial area to a knowledge-based community. A major exporter of grain, cement, and liquors, its thriving business interests include Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Alfa Laval, and Aalborg Portland. These companies have become global producers of wind turbine rotors, marine boilers, and cement.
With its theatres, symphony orchestra, opera company, performance venues, and museums such as Aalborg Historical Museum and the Aalborg Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg is an important cultural hub. The Aalborg Carnival, held at the end of May, is one of the largest festivals in Scandinavia, attracting some 100,000+ people annually. The town's major university is Aalborg University, founded in 1974, which has more than 20,000 students. AAU is also North Jutland's largest university and overall academic institution. The University College of Northern Denmark is one of seven new regional organisations while the Royal School of Library and Information Science provides higher education in library and information science. Trænregimentet, the Danish regiment for army supply and emergency medical personnel, is also in Aalborg. Aalborg University Hospital, the largest in the north of Jutland, was founded in 1881.
The football club Aalborg BK, established in 1885 and based at Nordjyske Arena, won the Danish Superliga in the 1994–95 season, the 1998–99 season, the 2007–08 season, and the 2013–14 season. Other sports associations include the ice hockey club Aalborg Pirates, the men's handball team Aalborg Håndbold, the rugby club Aalborg RK, and Aalborg Cricket Club. Aalborg Railway Station, on John F. Kennedys Plads has connected the city to Randers and the south since 1869. Aalborg Airport is just northwest of the city centre, and the E45, a European route from Alta, Norway, to Gela, Italy, passes through Aalborg.
A 2014 survey by the European Commission found that the citizens of Aalborg are the most satisfied people in Europe with their city.
Name
The name of Aalborg can be traced back to coins from the 11th century in the form of Alabu or Alabur. Like Aabenraa, there has been dissent regarding the spelling of the city's name. In current times, the modern name of Aalborg is nearly always written with a double-a instead of the Danish standard letter for that sound, å. Å was implemented to replace "aa" in all Danish place names on 22 March 1948 as a result of a Danish spelling reform. However, the city council in Aalborg made the unanimous decision to ignore the new law and keep the old way of spelling, stating:"Upon receiving a copy of the Ministry of Education's notice of 22 March 1948 about changes to orthography, according to which Aalborg's name henceforth shall be spelled Ålborg, the executive committee relays, that the city council – regardless of the notice – enacts that the city's name – as up until now – is spelled Aalborg, since the city's name with this way of spelling is known world-over. This was agreed upon unanimously."In 1984, then Minister of Education Bertel Haarder and Minister of Culture Mimi Jakobsen, decided that the municipalities of Denmark could decide for themselves which way of spelling they preferred. This went against the Danish Language Council and the Toponomy Committee's advice. Both spellings are included in the official list of placenames. It is never orthographically wrong to write Ålborg though it might upset local residents, many of whom identify strongly with the traditional spelling of the name. Aalborg is locally known as "Dobbelt A" and the local rapper Niarn has even made a song about the city of the same name. The city has also been nicknamed "Nordens Paris".
History
The area around the narrowest point on the Limfjord attracted settlements as far back as the Iron Age, leading to a thriving Viking community until around the year 1000 in what has now become Aalborg. In the Middle Ages, royal trading privileges, a natural harbour and a thriving herring fishing industry contributed to the town's growth. Despite the difficulties it experienced over the centuries, the city began to prosper once again towards the end of the 19th century when a bridge was built over Limfjord and the railway arrived. Aalborg's initial growth relied on heavy industry but its current development focuses on culture and education.Beginnings
Aalborg traces its history back over a thousand years. It was originally settled as a trading post because of its position on the Limfjord. The sites of what were two settlements and a burial ground can be seen on Lindholm Høje, a hill overlooking the city. These large settlements, one from the sixth-century Germanic Iron Age, the other from the Viking Age in the 9th to 11th centuries, evolved at the narrowest point on Limfjord as a result of the traffic between Himmerland to the south and Vendsyssel to the north.The first mention of Aalborg under its original name Alabu or Alabur is found on coins from 1040, the period when King Harthacnut settled in the area. In 1075, Adam of Bremen reported that Alaburg, as he called it in German, was an important harbour for ships sailing to Norway. In Valdemar's Danish Census Book from 1231 it was called Aleburgh, possibly meaning "the fort by the stream" as in Old Norse all meant a stream or current and bur or burgh a fort or a castle.
The Church of Our Lady in Aalborg was originally built in the early 12th century but was demolished during the Reformation. The Franciscan friary, or Greyfriars, on the east side of Østerå, was probably built around 1240; it was documented in 1268, but like many other Roman Catholic monasteries and convents was shut down in 1530 as a result of the Reformation.
Middle Ages
Aalborg's earliest trading privileges date from 1342, when King Valdemar IV received the town as part of his huge dowry on marrying Helvig of Schleswig. The privileges were extended by Eric of Pomerania in 1430 and by Christopher of Bavaria in 1441. The town prospered, becoming one of the largest communities in Denmark. Its prosperity increased when the merchant- and trade association Guds Legems Laug was established in 1481, facilitating trade with the Hanseatic League,especially from 1516 when Christian II granted it a monopoly in salting Limfjord's herring. The king frequently visited the town, where he held court and stayed in the old Aalborghus. The herring fishery linked Aalborg to the East coast of England, across the North Sea, both in commercial competition and cultural exchange. During the Middle Ages a number of important institutions were established in Aalborg, including Budolfi Cathedral in the late 14th century and the Hospital of the Holy Ghost, a monastery and nunnery founded in 1451 to help those in need. It was converted into a hospital during the Reformation and is still in use today as a nursing home for the elderly.
In 1530 a large part of the town was destroyed by fire, and in December 1534 it was stormed and plundered by the king's troops after a peasants' revolt known as the Count's Feud led by Skipper Clement. It resulted in the death of up to 2,000 people. The Reformation in 1536 brought about the demolition of the town's two monasteries. As a result of the Reformation, Aalborg became a Lutheran bishopric in 1554.
17th to 19th centuries
From the 1550s to the 1640s, as a result of increased foreign trade, Aalborg enjoyed great prosperity, second only to that of Copenhagen. The population grew in parallel with the development of many fine buildings in the city as merchants benefitted from their shipping routes from Norway to Portugal. In 1663, the city suffered yet another serious fire, which destroyed the tower of Budolfi Church.During the second half of the 18th century, Aalborg entered a further period of prosperity. In Erik Pontoppidan's Danske Atlas it was described as "after Copenhagen, the best and most prosperous market town in Denmark". The population grew from 4,160 in 1769 to 5,579 in 1801. In 1767, the second newspaper ever published in Denmark appeared in the city.
After Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in 1814, Aalborg lost its important role as the country's centre for Norwegian trade. Its former prosperity also suffered as a result of difficulties with the herring industry as the fish disappeared after the sea breached the Agger Tange in the 1825 North Sea storm. The after effects of the state bankruptcy in 1813 also contributed to widespread poverty in the city. In the mid-19th-century, Aalborg was overtaken by Aarhus as the largest city in Jutland. Towards the end of the 19th century there was however an upturn. In 1865, the pontoon bridge over Limfjord was completed, and in 1869, the railway reached the city with a railway bridge over the sound to Vendsyssel three years later. The harbour facilities were also improved, making Aalborg Denmark's second port. Aalborg became the country's main producer of tobacco products and spirits, followed in the 1890s by fertilisers and cement. By 1901, the population had increased to almost 31,500.