Funen
District: Fyns amt
Odense, after Copenhagen and Århus the third largest town in Denmark, lies on the island of Funen on the important E20 main road from Jutland to Copenhagen; the town is located on the little Odense Å river which flows into Odense Fjord a short distance north of the town.
History
The name of
Odense first appears in the records in 988, when the Bishop of the town was granted a letter of safe conduct by the German Emperor Otto. No doubt it was originally a cult site devoted to the worship of Odin (Wotan); hence its name. In 1086 the Danish king Knud (Canute) was murdered in St Alban's Church here. Fifteen years later he was canonized by the Pope. An ecclesiastical center and place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, Odense survived secularization after the Reformation and remained an important commercial town. At the beginning of the 19th C. Kerteminde, 15 km/10 mi away, became the port of Odense. The Old Town was gradually occupied by shops and businesses, so that although it has preserved its original layout few old buildings remain.
Odense's most celebrated son is the fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen (the initials H. C. are pronounced ho-tsay in Danish; the "d" in Andersen is silent). He was born here on April 2, 1805, but moved to Copenhagen - where he became famous - because he felt unappreciated in his native town, a resentment which can be "read between the lines" in his tale of The Ugly Duckling. Andersen died in Copenhagen on August 4, 1875.
Economy
Odense has developed into a major industrial town; the harbor is linked by a canal to the Odense Fjord on the Great Belt. It has a wharf and iron and steel, electro-technical and textile industries as well as timber-processing.
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