Aarhus: Denmark’s second city — history, culture, and modern life

Aarhus is located on the Aarhus Bay, which is part of the Kattegat between Jutland and the Swedish west coast. The city lies about 40 km east of Silkeborg, 50 north of Horsens and about 100 km south of Aalborg.

City history

The place was founded by the Vikings who settled in the estuary of the river Aarhus Å, and has been settled continuously since then. The oldest spelling, Arus dates from 1231, formed from å (Engl. river) and Old Danish ōs (Engl. estuary), later changed to -hus (Engl. house). The settlement of about four hectares soon grew upstream towards Immervad and downstream to today's Mejlgade road; it was surrounded by a rampart with a ditch.

Recent excavations in Aarhus revealed that the city was founded around 770. According to this, Aarhus is at least 100 years older than previously assumed and one of the oldest cities in Northern Europe. It was the third city after Haithabu and Dankirke near Ribe to be mentioned in the annals, and is said to have been the seat of a bishop as early as 948 (see Bishopric of Aarhus and List of Bishops of Aarhus), although Harald Blauzahn was not baptized until 960. In 965 and 988 the name again appeared in German documents. The Vikings left six rune stones in the town area. Coins have been struck in the city since 1040.

In 1050 the Norwegian king Harald Hardråda attacked the city. Aarhus became the bishop's seat again in 1060. In 1070, the cathedral was already built outside the rampart in the new suburb in the rapidly growing town. At the beginning of the 12th century, the next suburb and St. Olufs Church were built north of the old rampart. When Peder Vagnsen became bishop in 1191, this initiated a new development, and in 1203 the construction of the present cathedral began. The old cathedral was demolished, and the Frue Kirke and a Dominican monastery were built in its place in 1235. In 1477 the first section of the rampart was razed for new buildings.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Aarhus was a regionally quite important maritime trading city, but it lagged behind Copenhagen, Flensburg and Altona, which was founded in the 17th century, in the overall state under the Danish crown. It was not until the mid-19th century, when the city became the focal point of the new chaussee and railway network, that Aarhus became the largest city in Jutland, soon outstripping its competitors Randers and Aalborg. The loss of the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, and with them the economic centres in the south of the former whole state, strengthened the city's position within Denmark.

The rapid growth continued in the 20th century and Aarhus developed into a large city. In 1928, Aarhus University was founded as the second university in Denmark. The city is also home to the Aarhus School of Commerce, the Aarhus School of Architecture, the Aarhus State University of Music, and the Aarhus Theatre School of Drama.

Name change

On 27 October 2010, the Aarhus City Council decided, against the votes of the bourgeois parties and the Enhedslisten, to change the place name back from Århus to Aarhus as of 1 January 2011. This name can easily be written on any keyboard based on the Latin script. With the measure, politicians intended to position the city more strongly in international competition. Although a 1984 decree allows municipal authorities to restore an old Aa spelling, the official spelling is decided by the Danish Language Commission (Dansk Sprognævn) and the Danish Place Name Commission (Stednavneudvalget). These will retain Århus as the main form, while Aarhus will be added in brackets in the spelling dictionary.

Twinning

Aarhus is twinned with the following cities:

• Norway Bergen, Norway
• Sweden Gothenburg, Sweden
• Finland Turku, Finland
• Gronland Qaqortoq, Greenland
• China People's Republic of Harbin, People's Republic of China
• Russia Saint Petersburg, Russia
• Germany Rostock, Germany
• Germany Kiel, Germany

European significance

In 1960, the city of Aarhus was awarded the Europe Prize for its outstanding efforts towards European integration. On 25 June 1998, the Aarhus Convention was signed here, which since 2001, as a UNECE Convention, has been the first treaty under international law to grant every person rights in environmental protection.

At the end of September 2011, the city submitted its application to the Danish Ministry of Culture to become European Capital of Culture for 2017. On 24 August 2012, Aarhus beat Sønderborg (Southern Denmark) and, following its official nomination by the EU Council of Ministers in spring 2013, was awarded the title of European Capital of Culture in 2017.