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Århus is a city of growth. With a population of more than 300,000, Århus is Denmark's second largest city. It is at heart, however, also Denmark’s youngest city when you consider the average age of its habitants which is far lower than anywhere else in the country. At the University of Aarhus alone there are nearly 35,000 students, and there is a total of 25 educational and research institutions in the city. But Århus is also a city with clearly visible roots, founded, as it was, by the Vikings in the 8th century.
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Denmark’s youngest city
Århus is at heart Denmark’s youngest city. Because every fifth, or thereabouts, of its inhabitants is a student at one of the city’s 25 educational and research institutions, and this gives the city a young and exciting vibrancy of its very own. This is clearly in evidence along the ’Vadestedet’ by the river, where there used to be a ford in the early days of the city and where the student population today frequents the many cafés and restaurants packed tightly in there.
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But also, they are to be found, of course, in and around the University of Aarhus and its characteristic yellow-brick buildings which are an architectural gem in the beautiful University Park which now almost extends into the old town centre. The city and the university form a unique symbiosis which has a special attraction on students and lecturers from all over the world.
A brand new city in the making
Århus is at present expanding dramatically. During the course of the next ten years the entire inner section of the Århus Harbour will be transformed into a new and exciting urban area with houses, businesses and educations institutions. As in Hamburg in Germany and Malmo in Sweden the urban harbour areas will be Århus’s new face to the outside world with spectacular buildings and attractive canal areas. Within the next few years some 15,000 new Århus residents will move into the new urban area. In parallel with this, the Lisbjerg quarter to the north of the city will also be an area of quite astonishing growth and it will be connected with the city centre by means of a new light railway, passing through Denmark’s largest hospital area, the ‘Skejby Sygehus’ Aarhus University Hospital.
1250 years of city historyAt the same time Århus is a city which is also very conscious about its roots. Århus could well be Denmark’s oldest city; evidence has been found which shows that there was a Viking settlement here as early as the 8th century. The Vikings settled by the mouth of the river – at the very spot where the Cathedral today rises into the sky with its tower soaring to more than 90 metres in height. The ’Bispetorv’ square was also the centre of the town 1250 years ago, and in The Viking Museum in the basement of the Nordea Bank you are standing right next to the rampart which the Vikings built around Århus in the 10th century. |
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The most intelligent people in Denmark
13 out of 100 inhabitants in Århus are students, with 13 per cent of the city’s population attending higher or further education courses. As a comparison the figure is 10 percent in Copenhagen and 9 per cent in Odense and Aalborg.
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