Skagen

This article is about the municipality. Skagen is also a brand of watches.

Skagen (The Skaw) is a projection of land and a municipality (Danish, kommune) in North Jutland County on the northernmost tip of Vendsyssel-Thy, a part of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 143 km², and has a total population of 11,488 (2006). Its mayor is Hans Rex Christensen, a member of the Venstre (Liberal Party) political party.

Geography

The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Skagen. It takes its name from the region, which projects into the waters between the North Sea and the straits of Denmark. Skagen is considered the boundary between the Skagerrak (named after Skagen) and the Kattegat. At its very tip is a sandy, shifting headland known as Grenen.

Neighboring municipalities are Hirtshals to the southwest, Sindal to the south, and Frederikshavn to the southeast. Skagen stretches out to the northeast surrounded by the following waters:

to the east is Ålbæk Bay (Ålbæk Bugt) and beyond that the waters of the Kattegat, the strait that separates Denmark from Sweden
to the west is Tannis Bay (Tannis Bugt) and beyond that the waters of the Skagerrak, the strait that separates Denmark from Norway

Find Skagen at 57°44'00.00"N 10°35'60.00"E (per Google Earth).

Coming municipal changes

By January 1, 2007 Skagen municipality will cease to exist as the result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007). It will be merged with existing Frederikshavn and Sæby municipalities to form an enlarged Frederikshavn municipality. This will create a municipality with an area of 642 km² and a total population of 63,799 (2005). The new municipality will belong to the new Region Nordjylland ("North Jutland Region").

Description

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.

Problems with moving dunes and desertification were brought under control in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries by large-scale plantations of grasses, bushes and fir trees. Two significant migratory dunes remain in the area, including the enormous Råbjerg Mile.

The area is closely associated with the Skagen Painters, a community of artists (artist colony), who flocked to this picturesque, and then unspoiled, area in the late 1800s to escape the city and to record artistically a way of life they realized was soon to disappear.

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 with blazing bonfire and song.

History

Always sparsely populated, until recently Skagen has been of interest mainly to mariners. Of the region now known as Skagen, Pliny the Elder says (Book IV.97):

"Promenturium Cimbrorum excurrens in maria longe paeninsulam efficit quae Tastris appellatur."

"The promontory of the Cimbri running far out into the seas makes a peninsula, which is called Tastris."

The name Tastris is a hapax legomenon, recorded only once in all of history. Its meaning is not known: it may be the name assigned by the pre-Indo-European Mesolithic culture that once dwelled in the region, or by the subsequent agriculturalists.

Skagen, on the other hand, seems to follow Pliny's description of a projection running out into the "seas" (maria). There is a set of obscure words in modern Germanic languages that seem relevant: English skeg, a projection of a ship's keel, shag, a surface with projections, Swedish skägg (pronounced sheg), "beard". The root remains as yet unidentified.

Once a remote fishing area, it become considerably easier to travel to Skagen after it became connected to the rest of the country via a railroad line in 1890. A paved road followed in the 1940's.

Attractions

The headland at Grenen, the northernmost point of Denmark, is a spectacular setting where the two parts of the Baltic Sea, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak meet. 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 the lighthouse is located to the north of the town of Skagen.

The lighthouse was originally 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 then the far taller 'grey lighthouse' or gråfyr of the 1850's.

The desertification that hit the area in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the abandonment of the old parish church to the migrating sands— the famous Buried Church (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.

Famous residents of the municipality

The Skagen Painters, which enjoyed the reputation of a bohemian lifestyle, encompassed not only painters, but also writers, and other influential people as well. While only a few were fulltime residents of the area, they were often joined by friends, especially during the summer months. Among these notable visitors and residents of the time were writers Holger Drachmann, Georg Brandes, and Henrik Pontoppidan, artists Peder Severin Krøyer, Marie Triepcke Krøyer Alfvén, Michael Ancher and Anna Ancher, and composer Hugo Alfvén. They were often gathered at the area's Brøndums Hotel, which is still in operation today.

External links

References

Municipal statistics: NetBorger Kommunefakta, delivered from KMD aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)
Municipal mergers and neighbors: Eniro new municipalities map

Municipalities of Denmark

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