Skagen
|
|
Skagen (The Skaw) is a municipality in northern Denmark, in the county of North Jutland on the peninsula of Jutland. The municipality covers an area of 143 km², and has a total population of 12,691.
The nearby headland at Grenen is a spectacular setting where the two parts of the Baltic Sea meet (the Kattegat and the Skagerrak). This makes for turbulent seas and strandings, beachings and shipwreckings are not uncommon. The frequent shipping losses and the strategic location as the gateway to the Baltic led to Skagen being the site of one of Denmark's earliest lighthouses, the Vippefyr, constructed in the 15th century (a reconstruction of which sits to the north of the town). This was built and funded by the late medieval Danish state with the proceeds of the sound dues and was superseded by the 'white lighthouse' or hvidefyr in the 17th century and the far taller 'grey lighthouse' or gråfyr of the 1850's.
The area is extremely picturesque, and distinguished by its low, yellow houses with red tile roofs nestled into the beach areas. The impressive and wild landscape was largely formed by a severe process of desertification that hit the area in the 18th and 19th centuries, leading to the abandonment of the old parish church to the migrating sands, the famous tilsandende kirke. The tower of the church remains protruding from the dunes as it was left as a sea marker when the church was abandoned at the close of the 18th century. The moving dunes and desertification problems were brought under control in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries by large-scale plantations of grasses, bushes and fir trees, although two significant migratory dunes remain, including the enormous Råbjerg milen.
The area is also closely associated with a community of artists, an artist colony, who flocked to this picturesque, and then unspoiled, area in the late 1800s. In 1890 it had become considerable easier to travel to this remote destination when Skagen became connected to the rest of the country via a railroad line, a paved road followed in the 1940's.
This group, which enjoyed the reputation of a bohemian lifestyle, is sometimes referred to as the Skagen Painters, even though it encompassed writers, and other influential people as well. Among these notable visitors and residents of the time were writers Holger Drachmann, Georg Brandes, and Henrik Pontoppidan, and artists Peder Severin Krøyer, Michael Ancher and Anna Ancher. They were often gathered at the area's Brøndums Hotel, which is still in operation today.
The area continues to be a popular tourist destination visited by many people each year. A highlight of the year is the celebration of Midsummer Eve or St. John's Evening (Sankt Hans Aften) on the beach.
External link
- Official website (http://www.skagen.dk)da:Skagen