Slagelse Attractions
Zealand
Slagelse, an important trading center in the Middle Ages because of its situation, lies on the E20 in the southwest of Zealand. Roads lead from here to Kalundborg in the north, Næstved in the south and Copenhagen. The engineering and furniture-making industries play an important role in the economy.
History
As early as the 11th century Slagelse had a mint, and the first privileges of the town date from 1288. The inhabitants were engaged in agriculture and trade or worked as craftsmen. For several years Hans Christian Andersen attended the local Grammar School which had been founded after the Reformation, but which was closed in 1852. For centuries the town suffered from serious fires and the effects of war, but by the 19th C. the economy had recovered and canning factories and engineering works were established here.
Slagelse, an important trading center in the Middle Ages because of its situation, lies on the E20 in the southwest of Zealand. Roads lead from here to Kalundborg in the north, Næstved in the south and Copenhagen. The engineering and furniture-making industries play an important role in the economy.
History
As early as the 11th century Slagelse had a mint, and the first privileges of the town date from 1288. The inhabitants were engaged in agriculture and trade or worked as craftsmen. For several years Hans Christian Andersen attended the local Grammar School which had been founded after the Reformation, but which was closed in 1852. For centuries the town suffered from serious fires and the effects of war, but by the 19th C. the economy had recovered and canning factories and engineering works were established here.
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Trelleborg
Trelleborg was a Viking settlement that existed in the first half of the 11th C. It has been reconstructed based on original finds.
Gammel Torv
Fisketorv in the center of Stagelse - note the granite sculpture of 1977 - leads to Gammel Torv. For many years this was the town's commercial center and main meeting place. Queen Margarethe I is said to have crowned her six-year-old son Oluf here.
St Michael Church
The central feature of the town is St Michael's Church (Skt. Mikkels Kirke), built ca. 1330 on the highest hill in Slagelse and restored in 1873-6. It has a memorial, designed by the sculptor Gunnar Slot in 1959, to the Danish resistance movement in the Second World War; next to it can be seen the sculpture "Woman", by Keld Moseholm Jørgensen.
Nearby stands the former monastery barn, which was a Grammar School from 1616 to 1809. A prominent pupil was Jens Baggesen (1764-1826), who published the first modern Danish prose.
Nearby stands the former monastery barn, which was a Grammar School from 1616 to 1809. A prominent pupil was Jens Baggesen (1764-1826), who published the first modern Danish prose.
St Peter's Church
The oldest building in Slagelse is the Romanesque St Peter's Church (Skt. Peders Kirke), which was later enlarged and altered, partly in the Gothic style. Medieval tombs can be seen in the arms store, and in a chapel is the tomb of St Anders (d. 1205) who had been a leading figure in the town's development.
